At the Feet of Jesus

I have no idea where this post may go. I have so much on my mind. Cleaning, decorating, cantatas, cooking, shopping, how to make a little drummer boy outfit out of a sheet. I'm feeling a little stressed out these days. Are any of you? I've known for a while that this would be "the" week. The week of parties, recitals, and cantatas. I have tried my darndest to prepare myself mentally and to also get as organized as possible. I'm really bad at organizing. You know how some people love to plan, organize and do? I continually stand amazed and in awe of those people. They just know what they are doing. They set a goal and they get it done. I've come a long way, but I am still very lacking. I don't think that it helps that the progress I've made in that area is often refuted by the fact that I have 3 children, one of whom is 2. Need I say more?

Yesterday was rather climatic for me. I headed over to the church to help our music minister set up the family life building for our cantata. He had asked me to be in charge of the drama and I knew that meant I would end up helping with the decorations too. I am so bad at that kind of stuff. Luckily we have a lady who is phenomenally talented and artistic and she is doing some of the decorations. As I stood there with our music minister I felt like such a let down. I gave my opinion about a couple of things, but alas I am not one of those people who can fly in, perform a miraculous makeover and make those around me glad I am there to do such things. I began putting out the "snow" and had most of it done when I went to the nursery to check on my children. Sarah and Eli were sitting at the table coloring some pictures. Kate was nowhere in sight. She was in the girl's bathroom with two toilet bowl brushes FLOODING the bathroom. I am not kidding. She was almost up to her knees in water.

I lost it and we headed home where I could keep my children in familiar territory. I really wasn't feeling good and that was even more frustrating because this was really the worst week ever to be feeling bad. I kept telling myself I was just stressed out. Finally by the time Josh got home I decided I needed to go to the dr. I've shared that I actually enjoy the quiet time in the waiting room but I assure you that is not why I went. We have insurance but our co-pay is not good enough for me to just go and hang out! As I sat on the couch reading "The Smithsonian" (I couldn't pick up "Southern Living". I just could not take the pressure of looking at people's perfectly decorated homes and perfectly baked cookies. Just couldn't handle it) I noticed that the music was a little loud. Now, I am a music person. I usually don't know what to do with silence. Not that I get the chance to experience that much at my house, but I am bad about always having the TV on or something to have background noise. But yesterday, I CRAVED silence. I wanted to just stand up and say "For the love of Pete can you turn that music down!!!!!!!!"

You can breathe easy. I did not do that. I convinced myself I was just being a scrooge because I didn't feel good. I tried to continue my reading even though I couldn't think straight. I felt a little better when the nurse was writing down my vitals and put his finger in his ear when one singer hit a particular note. He thought the music was a little too loud too. When I say that I was craving silence I mean I felt like I could not take another sound. No music, no voices, no squeaky shoes on the floor. Have you ever been at that point? I realized right in that moment that I desperately needed some time at the feet of Jesus. I had been running non-stop trying to do all of these things to celebrate Him and worship Him, but the truth is, I was really, really missing Him. I was a Mary living in a Martha's world.

In case you are not familiar with it, the story of Mary and Martha is the story of two sisters who are dear friends to Jesus. They were also the sisters of Lazarus, the man Jesus raised from the dead. There was a certain day we are told about when Jesus was at their home and Martha got a little peeved that Mary was just sitting around listening to Jesus talk and not helping Martha in the kitchen. Have you been there? You start sighing...you put the dishes away as loudly as possible...you dramatically sweep through to gather leftover dishes making a scene. And yet, nobody seems to get the hint. Well, Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the greater thing by spending time with Him. As you can imagine that didn't go over well with Martha. Not only was she doing all of the work, but now she is being told Mary is the one doing what is right!!

I've been guilty of judging Martha harshly. Of saying, "Why couldn't she just chill out about all of the housework until Jesus left?" It made me think of times when I still lived at home and we would sit down to watch a movie and my Mama could not sit down until she had picked up the whole room. I didn't get it. I was content to sit in the messy room and watch the movie. Of course, that was before I became the Mama and the one responsible for the state our house is found in. It just happens. One day before you know it, you are the Mama. You're the one saying "I don't know how you can relax in a room that looks like this!" Even as laid back, non-organized and lazy as I am, even I worry over it. I've had to take back all of my judgments on Martha this holiday season as I have found myself worked into a frenzy about all of the details that (to me) just have to be taken care of. Just tonight Josh was laying down for bed and he asked why I was staying up. I, of course, did not understand why he doesn't understand that there are 850 billion things to do. It's not important to him that I bake homemade peanut butter blossom cookies, that I scrub the hood over the stove or that I wash the rugs. And now, I realize, is that really important to God either?

I'm a slow learner, have I ever told you that? This morning Josh had to make a 2 hour drive to get sound equipment for the cantata. He took the kids with him. Yes, I nominate him for sainthood. Finally, my house was quiet. I was so tempted to get to the cleaning. Mop the floors, clean the fridge. But I couldn't. The urge was so strong I couldn't stand it. Jesus was beckoning. I had to spend time with Him. It was more important than the floors. More important than cantata decorations. I just needed Him. The Mary part of my heart couldn't take the busyness or the running anymore.

I went to the book of Luke and began reading about the birth of Jesus. For some reason the very first part of that story we always hear, "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Ceasar Augustus that all the world should be registered." (Luke 2:1) was on my heart. As I began to read that story one verse really stood out to me. Verse 19 tells us, "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." Can you even imagine? Can you even begin to consider the things on Mary's heart that she was pondering? In the midst of shepherds and angels, Mary was taking in this miraculous child, the Messiah who had been prayed about for so many years. She was working things out in her heart.

Every year I feel like God has to reteach me this lesson. He has to remind me that this season is not about all of the trappings and traditions. It is about pondering in our hearts the gift God gave us when He allowed Jesus to be "God with us". It takes my breath away. When I think of the silly things I get stressed out about I either want to dissolve into a fit of hysterical laughter or weep that I am so easily misled. Ultimately, I just stand in awe that the gift this season represents means that I get to sit at the feet of Jesus.

It's the Thought That Counts?

*Yesterday was Sarah's Christmas party with her dance class. She reminded me of this little Christmas memory from last year. This is one thing I hope you DON'T get this Christmas season. :)

I know that I've been talking about Sarah a lot, but she continues to provide stories for me on a daily basis.

Yesterday was her Christmas party with her dance class and her teacher was so sweet. She gave all of the girls a present. They practiced for their upcoming Christmas recital and then pigged out and opened their presents. I went over to take Sarah her plate and reminded her to thank her teacher for her gift. Ms.Dana had given all the girls a Hannah Montana diary. Sarah smiled and nodded and said excitedly, "I got a diarrhea!"

Oh dear. I guess it's the thought that counts? :)

On the First Day of Christmas

So are all of you full swing into the season? We are! I am excited today to be able to say that I am finally "feeling it". A lot of that has to do with something that happened last night. Well, first I started cooking for the fellowship we had after the children's program at church last night. It was designated a finger food fellowship and usually those make me happy because I just buy some chips and cookies and viola! Well except for the time I made a key lime pie at another church and totally got in trouble because it was not technically finger food and they wouldn't serve it. But that's a whole other story. :)

Anyway, after doing the post on our Christmas traditions and realizing that I have been pretty terrible in the past about baking and creating favorites for my family to look forward to every year I got motivated. I pulled out my arsenal of cookbooks, dusted them off and set to scavenging for recipes destined to become annual must haves. Yesterday I made a mandarin orange slice cake, Tex Mex dip, tea cookies, chocolate fudge cookies (cookies from scratch y'all!) and my crowning achievement- mushroom puffs. I am in love. I don't know if any of my family members actually ate any of that appetizer last night or if they will like it, but if they don't I will totally make it for myself and I will totally eat every last bite of it by myself! Sauteed mushrooms mixed with green onions and cream cheese spread on crescent rolls. Yum. One day I'm going to make a cook book of all crescent roll recipes. I could live off of them. They are not very Atkins friendly, but thankfully my scale is broken and currently says I weigh 80 pounds. I'm keeping that scale through the holidays. :)

We had lots of fun watching the kids sing Christmas songs in their Christmas pj's. Sooo cute! I must share a step of progress in my silly little life. My kids pajamas didn't match. And they weren't red and green. There, the truth is out. I know, only I would have such weird issues that my children have matching or at least coordinating RED AND GREEN pajamas. What can I say? I'm just weird. But on this last rainy, very cold Saturday and a trip to Wal-Mart for all things baking, I then shuttled around several different stores on a very time and money limited journey for matching pj's. Didn't happen. Just couldn't find any. I got Kate the cutest red footed pj's from Dirt Cheap for $2.00! But, couldn't find any for my big kids. As I got soaking wet running into the last store it occurred to me that perhaps I had a problem. My kids had just gotten 2 new pair of pj's each, but I was out in the rain because those pj's weren't red and green. God had a little intervention with me and I headed home feeling set free and okay with the fact that Eli would be wearing Buzz Lightyear instead of Rudolf. What a relief! :)

Friday night is what really set the tone for getting me in the spirit. At one point we had five kids in this house. I was pretty sure I would be singing Hannah Montana songs in my sleep for a week, but the good news was that the extra kiddos entertained my kiddos and I started wrapping presents. I set up shop in my kitchen on the bar and got to work. Does wrapping presents make anybody else feel like they are going to lose their religion? Well, I like wrapping presents, they just never look as pretty as I envision. On this night I was wrapping presents for my two sisters and their families. They are living in Italy and Georgia and I have really got to get those boxes shipped! I also HAD to wrap my nephew's present before I lost Kate to a fit of hysterics that only a forbidden toy could cause. I did my wrapping and even felt pretty satisfied with my bow making. Then, I realized I did not have any name tags. That was because I wanted some fancy looking tags I had seen but couldn't find. Well, this situation called for some creativity which is always bad when I'm involved. :)

As I was looking at Luke's wrapped present it came to me. I grabbed a catalog laying on the counter and cut out the different letters to spell his name. Looks totally like a ransom note. For some reason I decided it worked. So, I did that for everybody's and had the best time digging through magazines and old cards to find the perfect letters. Holidays making me delirious? Very possible. I showed them to Josh and he did the obligatory nod and smile. Bless his soul. I pitched my name tag solution by assuring him we wouldn't even have to put who it was from because honestly, who else would make name tags that look like ransom notes???? If I do decide to add who it is from I am considering "The Fidler 5", "The Fids", "The Crazy Aunt you will avoid telling people about" or my favorite, "Christmas greeting from your friendly neighborhood serial killer". What do you think? :)

Well, as if all of that baking and wrapping weren't enough to get me going, I have to tell you about something that we started last night. I really debated telling for two reasons. One, I don't want the secret to get out. Can you keep a secret? And two, I DO NOT want you to think that I am trying to brag about anything we are doing. It is just so much fun and it is the thing I am most excited about this year. I am only sharing it in case you might want to do it in the future. I meant to tell you about it early enough that you could do it this year but I just couldn't get it together. Imagine that...

For a few years now Karen has been telling me about this thing her family has done at Christmas called "The 12 Days of Christmas". You choose a family that you want to bless and then for 12 days leading up to Christmas Eve or Day you leave anonymous gifts for that person or family. I've been wanting to do it for a while and would always forget about it until it was too late to start. This year, I just knew I had to do it. We had a lady pull up in our driveway and when I went out to greet her she told me she had lost her dog and was wanting to know if we had seen it. Unfortunately we hadn't, but as we talked she introduced herself and I immediately recognized her name. I had heard her name mentioned in prayer requests and in the news. Just months ago she lost her son in Afghanistan. I can't even imagine how difficult this Christmas will be for her and I just thought maybe it would add a little bit of fun to a Christmas that I'm sure will be very lacking this year. Again, I only share this in case God might lead you to a person or family that you feel would benefit from some extra fun and attention at Christmas.

So, last night was the first night. Since it was the first day you just do one gift. And you just get little $1-$3 stuff. It's more about the thought than how much you spend. I got her a snowman mug, wrapped it and put a note that says, "On the first day of Christmas Santa gave to me, a snowman mug perfect for hot tea." Yes, my poetry book will be available next Spring. :) I also put her name and that it was from Santa so the mailman would not think it was for him. Yes, I know it is illegal to put stuff in people's mailboxes. I'm such a rebel.... Each day you come up with the number of gifts to match that day. I still need to get something for today and tomorrow, but I hit up the dollar rack at Target and got 4 magnetic clips, 5 cookie cutters, 7 santa chocolates, and a pack of 12 ornaments. Stuff like that. Each day you do the poems and then on the last day you do a long poem with your last name hidden in the poem to see if the person can figure it out. I haven't gotten that far, but if you're interested let me know and I will send you what I come up with or send you Karen's that she sent me.

This will probably bless me more than her. It's already made my Christmas. I felt like a teenager last night dropping off the gift. I will probably have to wait until later to go because there were still lights on when I went last night. I was just so tired after my day of church and baking and fellowshipping that I couldn't bear the thought of going back out again. Anyway, I didn't pull up close enough to the mailbox and I had to open the door. I'm sure they probably heard my door slam and me take off like a wild woman. Reminded me so much of nights out vandalizing people's yards and cars. Only with toilet paper of course. Okay, and maybe some shaving cream every now and then. :) I've always stunk at it. Subtle is not my word. Oh well. I can't wait to get the gift today and come up with my cheesy little poem.

I hope you are enjoying the season. And if this is a Christmas that holds more dread and sadness then joy, I pray that God will bless you during this time. And I pray that if I'm part of your holiday you will not live in fear of serial killers or strange noises in the night. It's just me. :)

Call Enterprise, We'll Pick You Up

I am sitting here on a lazy Saturday. And I'm enjoying it. I'm trying to get all of my laziness in before we embark on this next week which includes: city party (tonight), children's Christmas program, Sarah's dance class party, cantata practice, church Christmas party, Sarah's Christmas recital, cantata dress rehearsal, and then finally the big cantata Saturday. Josh's mom and grandma are also coming in next weekend and I'm hoping I will still be coherent enough to play hostess. Can't wait to see them!

The children's Christmas party at church always brings to mind the very first Christmas party here at Montrose Baptist Church. Josh had just accepted the call to be the pastor here the week before the scheduled party and I was so excited about my first activity as an official preacher's wife. I was going to make a birthday cake for Jesus and read "What God Wants for Christmas" to the kids. I was so excited. As you can probably guess, things did not go as smoothly as I had planned.

At that point I was still working full-time, a job that had me driving halfway around the free world. We had not yet moved into the "church manse" so we were also driving 45 minutes to and from church twice on Sundays. I'm not going to lie, it was a little exhausting. So, that particular Sunday after church I baked the cake for Jesus and then informed Sarah that we would all take a nap and let the cake cool while we slept. Well, apparently Sarah was not okay with that plan because while I slept, she decided she would frost the cake. The too hot cake that crumbled into a million pieces as she frosted it. :) This was also during the time that our Christmas tree kept falling over so by the time we put the Christmas tree back up and salvaged the cake, we were running a little late. Josh had a "shortcut" through the woods and that day it felt like a roller coaster ride as we twisted and turned and shot up in the air on those back country roads doing about 90.

We finally made it to the church and the second I stepped out of the jeep the Nutty Nurse (she is one of our church members who just happened to also work at hospice with me) came over and asked if I had gotten her page. I hadn't. We obviously had not had signal during our roller coaster ride through the woods. She informed that a patient had just died and we were the nurse and social worker on call. Two things crossed my mind. First, I was so upset that I would have to leave the birthday party for Jesus. Second, I was a little freaked out because the Nutty Nurse and I had both started our jobs about the same time and this was the first time either of us had been called out for a death visit. To top it off, neither of us had met the patient or the family.

I handed my children, the book and the crumb cake over to one of the church ladies and loaded up in the Nutty Nurse's SUV. We took off and immediately started discussing what we were supposed to do. She handed me the protocol book and I started reading the information. I couldn't help but comment that we really needed a "Death for Dummies" book. During the 45 minute drive to Meridian we went over the patient's information and I noted that Enterprise was the funeral home the patient had chosen. The NN decided we should wait until we spoke with the family to call the funeral home. We drove around lost for a little bit and then we finally figured out the directions. I don't know how to explain where we ended up without it sounding judgmental or negative. Let's just say, it was an apartment complex you would not want to go to by yourself at night. And yet, there we were...

We stuck out like sore thumbs and so people were quick to figure out who we were and point us in the direction of the right apartment. We walked in and there were several people gathered in the tiny space. The bed was stripped. No patient. No sheets. I assumed the family must have already called the funeral home. What a relief....we would just provide support to the family and help them with arrangements. As I was feeling relieved I noticed that everyone's attention was drawn to a pile of white sheets in the middle of the floor. Could it be? No, it couldn't. A person couldn't fit under those sheets......OH.MY.GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The patient was on the floor under a pile of sheets!!!!!!!!!!!!! The NN pulled back the sheet to check her and they hadn't even closed her eyes! Do you remember the post where I talked about the things that school cannot prepare you for? Yes, this would count as one of those times.

In that moment I did what any good preacher's wife would do. I said, "Let's pray." As I was leading this group of people I had never met in my life in prayer, literally over a dead body, someone started trying to open the door behind me. More relief. I just knew it had to be our chaplain and he would know how to handle all of this. No. It was just some drunk guy who had stumbled on the wrong apartment. I gently shoved him out and joined the NN in the kitchen as she was trying to calm down a hyperventilating neighbor. I really wanted to move the patient out of the floor, but I guess I've seen too much CSI and I felt like we shouldn't touch the body until she had been examined. We learned that the coroner had already been out. I still just could not figure out why they left her on the floor. The NN and I decided we would try to move her. Have you ever heard the expression "dead weight". Well, me and the little NN decided against that course of action because all I could think was that as if this was not traumatic enough for everyone could you imagine us dropping her in front of her family?!?!

So, I accompanied the NN to the bathroom as she performed the ritual flushing of the meds. By the time she finished that the funeral home got there. Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!! As they were placing her on the stretcher I noticed that the name on the stretcher was not Enterprise. This tells you how clueless I was about these things. I thought maybe they had bought out another funeral home and were still using the old stuff. Y'know, like when Sara Lee took over Colonial Bread, but they still used some of the old trucks. I know, I know. Give me some credit y'all I had just seen my first dead body not already prepared in a casket. The NN also noticed this and questioned the family about it. They were not aware of the arrangements already made and CALLED THE WRONG FUNERAL HOME. Seriously. We talked to the men from the funeral home and explained the situation. They already had her in the hearse. I called the right funeral home to tell them what was going on and they agreed to drive to the wrong funeral home and pick her up.

It was some kind of night. It definitely guaranteed that I would never forget my first death call. Just so you know the NN and I actually became pretty competent at handling death calls. But, we became famous in our office for that particular visit. In fact, just last week when I went to the Memorial Service one of the nurses introduced me to a new employee and immediately had to tell her that story. I think it is my number one story archived in the "I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried" category of my life.

After all was said and done I couldn't help but laugh a few weeks after that visit when a commercial came on and said, "Call Enterprise. We'll pick you up." Yes, they really will.

A Year Ago Today

Sarah Beth, this is what you looked like on December 11, 2008, the day you asked Jesus into your heart. You were six years old and had been asking us questions since you were three about Jesus and baptism. We felt you were too young and just kept talking to you and praying for you. Finally, on this day last year as we sat around the dining room table you told us you wanted Jesus in your heart and daddy explained to you what that means. He explained that meant asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to be your Savior. You said, "Well can I pray now?" We knew that Jesus was knocking at the door of your heart. You prayed with daddy right there at the table. Two months later you were baptized and you showed your first step of faith. You had been telling us for years that you would get baptized when you were six. You had been scared of going under the water, but God gave you the faith to do it (and daddy promised he wouldn't hold you under long. :)


This is what you look like this year and my, how you have grown! You've changed from a chubby cheeked first grader into a tall, beautiful 2nd grader. You have grown in so many other ways too. You've learned all of the books of the New Testament and several in the Old Testament. You've learned several verses as well. You learned to play "Kum Ba Ya" on the piano and you played it last year when we visited some elderly members of the community. My little toddler that used to be too scared to get on stage even with a group of other people has become so brave and independent. You have been so excited about Christmas this year and make sure to remind us and everyone else that it is Jesus' birthday! I left you with one of our Methodist neighbors for just 10 minutes one day and when I got back you had asked her if she and her daughters had been baptized. :)

I know God has such big plans for you. You are so thoughtful and compassionate. You are also determined and "strong-willed". I thought that strong-will was going to do me in when you were younger, but I have watched God mold that will into one that wants to please Him. He needs people who are determined to serve Him and share Him and that is you! I am so excited to see what God has in store for you. You have already grown so much in just a year. Can't wait to celebrate lots more of these "birthdays" with you!

My prayer for you~ Father, I thank you for the opportunity to be Sarah Beth's mama. It is the most important and significant job you have ever given me. I pray that Sarah will continue to grow in grace and in her knowledge of You. I pray that you will fill her with an unquenchable thirst for You and a hunger for Your Word. I pray for teachable moments in her life that will draw her closer to You. I ask that You would fill her with strength and boldness that in the days to come she would remain strong in her faith. Lord, I pray that you will surround her with family and friends who love You and encourage her and support her in her love for You. I pray that she will learn to seek her security from You, and You alone. Thank you Father, for giving Your only Son, so that my baby girl can have a relationship with You.

Rewind and Remind: Adventures in Decorating the Fidler Church Manse

First, I would like to start by telling you that when we did the Preacher's Wife's Scavenger Hunt one of the ladies overseas referred to their parsonage as the "church manse". Don't you love that? I do. So, we are now officially living in the church manse. Today, I am joining in again at The Preacher's Wife for This Is How We Christmas Thursday. You can still link up there if you would like, but I am winning the drawing this time because it is jewelry from The Vintage Lane and I picked out a necklace I want to give someone weeks ago. So, I'm just sayin'. :) (The truth is that it's a random drawing and the only random drawings I get chosen for are surveys. I'm not kidding. I get randomly picked for every census and survey known to mankind. My opinion is highly valued. :)

Anyway, I wasn't sure if I was going to join in on this particular day because to be honest, I have been struggling with the Christmas decorations. I started out the month feeling pretty under the weather and having no energy for normal life much less the strenuous rigor of decorating. But, I had a moment with my 4 year old that inspired me. You will most definitely not be inspired by any great decorating ideas I have, but God used the curiosity of my preschooler to help me chill out and focus on what this time is about. You see, I so much want to have a Better Homes and Garden house. A home that is perfectly clean, decorated and classy. And it looks like grown ups live there. But alas, it is not meant to be.We have this little problem. We have to live here... *sigh*

This year I was feeling kind of frustrated because I wanted new stuff, fancy stuff, stuff that goes together. All of my Christmas stuff is a mismatch of things that have been given to me. Well, Eli was laying on the couch one day and asked, "What does remind mean?" I thought he meant rewind, because he was waiting on a movie to rewind. He said, "No, what does remind mean?" I told him it is something that helps us remember.



Then, referring to this ornament he said, "That dog reminds me of Abby." Abby was our cocker spaniel that passed away 2 years ago. It was like a light bulb came on in my head. As I had been putting out different decorations they would remind me of certain people or places or events. God began to show me how much love fills my house every Christmas with decorations and ornaments that were chosen especially for me by people who care for me. I needed to rewind and be reminded of that.

This is the first year EVER that I've had a real tree!! I'm so excited I about can't stand it. We had so much fun going to pick it out. I've shared before that we had a seven foot tree I got on clearance before Josh and I were married. Before we had furniture or a place to live. I also shared that it never did fit anywhere we lived. We often had to leave the back of it off or the top. Finally, the year we moved to Mississippi it went up one last time. It actually went up several times because again we could only put half of it up and it was very front heavy. I can't tell you how many times it fell down and we had to put it back up. Then, we got called to Montrose and moved the week before Christmas. We finally just said good-bye to that tree and bought a very petite pre-lit tree that I named Peggy Sue. I noticed in the pics from last year that Peggy Sue was looking pretty pitiful. So, now we have a real tree!


I don't have a pic with the lights, but I have to tell you that my husband and children convinced me to get colored lights. We had colored lights when I was growing up but since we've been married we've always had white. It just feels so peaceful and calming to sit by a lit Christmas tree doesn't it? It used to. Until Josh decided we needed moving lights. Mercy. They were really stressing me out during the decorating phase, but now they are growing on me. You can even put on Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and they move right on beat with the song. Just thought you should know that. :)


The lights remind me a lot of this little girl who is making Christmas quite the activity this year. Here is Kate with one of her daddy's ornaments. Isn't she cute? Let me tell you though, she moves quicker than those lights! We just decorated Tuesday night and we've already re-decorated 3 or 4 times.



Sarah put the manger at the very top and said it should be up their "because it's Jesus' birthday". Right on babygirl! And how cool is it that her 1 year spiritual birthday is tomorrow!!

These are some ornaments that my friend and church member, Shelly, has made the past three years. I stand in awe y'all. Aren't they amazing? I'm planning one day to just have a "Shelly Tree" full of her ornaments. She assures me that one day when my kids are older I too can do things like this. Ummm, I'm not very hopeful...

This is my homemade ornament. The lighting is terrible. But this is what I can do with some wood glue and a kit from Oriental Trading. :) Speaking of wood glue I feel like I am running an infirmary for broken ornaments. As I write this I have a ballerina healing on my kitchen counter. Decapitation. Horrible. I thought I was gonna lose her. And I love ballerinas. Thank goodness for the wood glue...

And who doesn't love a clown? This is Josh's ornament that his great-grandma "Mo" made him.

This ornament was given to us at my friend Pao Ying's wedding which just happened to be November 27th. Unfortunately, I never get this ornament out in time to remember that. This was the favor from their wedding and I just love it because 1. It reminds me of their anniversary even if I am late and 2. It's neat to feel like they are part of our Christmas every year. And, they do have faces I promise. My camera obviously does not have a Christmas Tree setting on it. (Or more likely, I just don't know what I'm doing...)

This is my absolute favorite ornament. F.A.V.O.R.I.T.E. I have put this ornament on the tree every year of my life that I can remember. It's not Christmas for me until the red ballet shoes are hanging on the tree.

This is another favorite of mine. Again, I was having camera issues. My best friend Karen gave this to me a few Christmases back and do you see the "F" on their songbook? I just love it. I need to find another little snowgirl to add since we have added Kate. Nothing a little wood glue couldn't handle. :)

I had a picture of our mantle on here and it just disappeared. But that is okay because it is still a work in progress. I can't find our stocking y'all. Or mine and Josh's first year of marriage Christmas ornament. I am convinced that I packed them somewhere special so they would not get lost or broken. Now I just have to remember where....

This will be our third Christmas here and this is the first year it has occurred to me to put our stockings on the mantle. It's a mantle from a fireplace that was taken out of the den and when they asked if I wanted to keep the mantle I had them put it in the dining room for all of my pretty decorations. Or, for a bunch of random stuff that gets thrown up there to keep it out of Kate's reach. :) Anyway, I have no idea why I never thought to put our stockings there. I guess I was too busy looking for places to hide things like our very important ornaments...

I really wish I could show you that ornament. It is a very pretty glass ornament. My mama had bought me tons of ornaments and we had a dear family member (this will be the first Christmas since she went to be with the Lord and I am thankful for my tree full of "Liz" ornaments) who got us ornaments every year. So, I had plenty for our tree. And they all came with red yarn to tie them in bows to the tree because that is how we always decorated at mama's. Well, when it came time to hang our new ornament I didn't have any pretty ribbon or hooks to hang it with. Never fear, we had a bread tie. Josh had just started working as a breadman for Sara Lee and that was our life. It was only appropriate that the pretty glass ornament be hung by a bread tie. It still is. :) Or it will be as soon as I find it...:/

If anyone is still reading this, I hope I haven't bored you to tears. Thank you for letting me share a very small part of the decorating here at our church manse. :) I look forward to seeing everyone else's decorations and pray that we will all make the time this season to be reminded of why we celebrate!

I'll have a hot chocolate, a low interest loan and some spray 'n wash, please.

I used to hate when people would say that marriage took work. It just didn't sound romantic at all. Love shouldn't be work. It should be fun and easy and...romantic. Have I mentioned before that I am a hopeless romantic? Despite my hopeless romanticness (one day I will write my own dictionary) I have found that often, I do not feel romantic.

Yesterday while Josh was at school he was sending me messages telling me he loved me and he couldn't wait to see me and he wanted to give me a big smooch. That was sweet and all, but I have to tell you, after a day of homeschooling, driving in the rain to pick up Sarah, cantata practice that consisted of more child chasing than practice, and the wonderful surprise of a dirty pull-up that Diasy had pulled out of the trash awaiting me when I got home, I just wasn't feeling all that romantic. In fact, I was feeling more like I wanted to curl up in the fetal position and mumble for a little while. Poor Josh.

So, this morning I decided I would attempt some good old fashioned romance and surprise Josh at the office with a hot chocolate from Cups, this amazing coffee place my friend Amy introduced me too. Josh and I don't drink coffee, but we can tear up a hot chocolate and a Blondie (my new fave!) Well, this is when I realized what that whole "working" thing is talking about. It is seriously a major event to do things as simple as take a drink to my sweetie at work. First, we had to do school. Then, we had to get everybody ready. Thankfully Sarah and Eli get themselves dressed now. That is good because Kate is at that phase where it is like to trying to dress 8 people. She had to go to the "bafroom", she climbed in the bathtub while I was putting on my make-up, she had to brush her teeth, we had to find socks...you get the picture. We finally got on the road and made the 30 minute drive. (Have I ever mentioned we live at least 30 minutes from ANYTHING?)

I pulled up to the window (yes, they have a drive-thru, praise the Lord!) and the guy informed me that all of their prices had gone up and were not the same as what was listed on the menu outside. I didn't even ask. It didn't matter. I was committed. I had driven through a torrential rain (I love the word torrential) after getting myself and 3 kids dressed. There was no turning back. I was getting Josh that hot chocolate no matter what! I had even put on make-up for pete's sake!! Of course, I couldn't just get Josh the hot chocolate. Are you kidding? My children would be telling that story for years of how we drove millions of miles to get hot chocolate and I didn't let them get any. I could just hear it.

I placed my order and I could tell that the poor guy was not used to getting group orders. Kate got a chocolate milk which she promptly spilled all over her brand new shirt. A girl popped up at the window to tell me my total. $16.35 . Sixteen dollars and thirty five cents. Seriously? Yes, seriously. I started to tell my children that was their lunch. But I didn't. Because I didn't want to mention food or remind them that they require it. So far they haven't remembered. :)

We continued on in the torrential rain storm to Josh's office. We gave him his hot chocolate. He was happy. He said Cups is worth every penny. We smooched. I thought that was worth every penny. :)