Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I was assigned desserts and appetizers. So, after staying up on Christmas Eve making 2 coconut pies, a layered (very yummy) carrot cake, deviled eggs, stuffed celery, & a veggie with olives and cheese tray, while Mr. Brown was putting together a toy for Piglet, I was ready for some sleep. It was after midnight when I got done, I am not sure what time I went to sleep.

At 2:14 am Pear and Pepper came in to our room saying "Merry Christmas!" Mr. Brown, says "Merry Christmas, in about 5 hours you can come back and we'll open presents!" I would have laughed but I was so tired I couldn't. They went back to bed, and we opened presents after the sun came up. Doll dresses with matching girl dresses, Jonathan Park cd's, and books from Vision Forum were a big hit. We tried to get very intentional gifts this year instead of the quantity of gifts.

We then went to Grandma's and visited there. We then had some very teachable moments. Extended family seems to do that, don't they? So, we saw first hand that Jesus was born to save us all, for sin is sin. Even though we see people who I am quite frankly shocked that we share a gene pool, I am able to show my children the true reason Jesus came 2000 years ago. He came to save us all. What a humbling reminder of what grace is about and the true reason we celebrate this time of year.

After Grandma's we went to the nursing home and visited there a little bit. Then we returned home to a little peace and quiet. We then watched a movie. We had a very good Christmas, and I hope you did too!

News of the day...

Okay, if you've had the tv or radio on at all, I am sure that you know Sarah Palin's grandchild's other grandmother has been arrested on drug charges and they have found Caylee Anthony's body.

I feel so bad for Caylee's grandparents. Dealing with family members that have mental and drug problems is never pretty. Once children are involved, it gets even worse. I have seen this firsthand with family myself, and without boring you with details, I can say that I am praying for them as they walk through this process. I hope the media will grant them the privacy they need to mourn their loss. I pray that God will heal the hearts of her grandparents and uncle and that they do not live with guilt and regret of what might have been. We cannot live our lives in hindsight.

Another reminder of how we need to be living each day to the fullest.

Now, we are watching some Christmas specials today, Gaither Christmas being on of them. Can't wait to see Mark Lowry sing "Mary Did You Know" I love that song!

Laundry and Computer woes

I am up to my eyeballs in laundry. I can't seem to get ahead and it's been like this for a week.

Between trying to get ready for Christmas, taking Mr. Brown's grandma to several different doctors, a teething toddler, trying to get ready for Christmas, a computer that is overheating and then turns off, going to a party for a friend who is moving away, my kids American Girl Christmas party, and did I mention trying to get ready for Christmas myself?

My laundry is getting ahead of me. I tried to take some pictures and post them, but my computer is to hot right now. Maybe another day...

Christmas Parade

We were in the Christams parade this weekend. The camera batteries died and I didn't have the spare I thought I did in the door. So, I have no pictures. The route we followed went around town and there were a lot of people just sitting on their porches or in their lawns waving. Since we live in the south, we were yelling Merry Christmas out the truck windows and float and singin Christmas carols.

Peach sat in the truck bed and watched some little guys from our 4H group. Pepper sat in the front of the float with the baby cow, while Pear sat in the back of the float with a chicken. It was so cold that day and very windy, so Mr Brown and the other 4H guy blasted the heat so Piglet and I would be warm inside since the windows were rolled down. That was nice!

There was a church group 2 floats behind us, packe full of people and they had matching shirts on that said "A blood donor saved my life" and had a cross and Romans 5:9 "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him" That was neat to see them there! They threw so much candy out too, it was unbelievable.

I will take some pictures tommorrow of our house decorations and post them.

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Crazy Thing

Alright, yesterday we got the mail and lo and behold there is a postcard with the following on it:

"Doody Calls"

Yes, thats right for the amazing bargain price of $2.00 a DAY, someone will come scoop the poop from your yard. Now, I don't think, even if I were rich, I would actually pay someone to come scoop my yard.

Peach laughed, she wondered if they scooped for just dogs, or if they did cows and horses too. Pepper said she would cut me a deal and scoop our yard for $1.00 a day, and also wanted to know what kind of deal we could work for the catbox.

I want to know who is so lazy that they would pay someone roughly $60 a month to come do that for them. Even if I didn't have the help I have, part of owning any animal is taking care of it. Including the waste.

As I sit here and type this though, my kids are outside raking leaves for free in our elderly neighbors yard. We came home from church and he was out there raking, they came in, changed their clothes and went right back out, yelling they were going to help him. These are the days that make me proud as a mama. I am so glad they see their daddy working so hard for us and want to help out too. I am glad they see a need and try to fill it without thinking about what they might want to do instead, like watch the Christmas movie we told them they could after church.

Love Remembers

I heard a song called that yesterday. It was about an old romance, but it got me thinking and I've been doing a lot of that lately. About love, family, this short, short life we have here on earth, and the decisions we are faced with. There is the most critical decision of all, where you will spend eternity; and another important one, how you live this life during the time you are given.

I am gonna tell you a story about a friend of mine, Dorothy. Dorothy and I became great friends when we were 11 or 12. I was the new kid at school, and she was so nice. Our birthdays were 2 weeks apart and she had a surpise party for me when I turned 13. We used to talk about having kids and being teachers. She had an older brother Robbie. All the girls thought he was so cute. To me, he was just Dororthy's brother. As time went on and we got older, we remained close. Her brother moved to Florida for a year and came home. I switched schools again in high school, and she was my only friend for almost a year. I had a hard time making friends at this new school, as almost everyone had gone to school together their whole life(it was a private school) Her brother moved back and got a job and a roomate. He also got a second job cleaning doctor's offices. We would help him sometimes on the weekend. He kept telling us life would be so different once we were out of school. I, of course, did not believe him. I made some new friends, she moved to the next town over, her brother moved back to Florida and got married and started a construction business there, and I started dating my husband.

After high school, I got married that fall, she went to college. By the next fall, I had a husband and a baby and she had many new friends. Life was certainly different. I now had a baby, and soon 2 then 3. I became a teacher - to my own children. We drifted apart a little. Her brother had 2 little boys and adopted 2 little girls. He became very active in his church and his business was growing. I saw her usually over the holidays when she would be home for breaks. She graduated college and moved back here. We went to lunch a couple times. She was going to buy a house kinda near ours. She met someone and got married. He was in college to be a doctor, and they moved away so he could finish. Her brother was killed in a car accident on a dark, rainy night. I saw her again and she was trying to have a baby. When I was pregnant with Piglet, we both turned 30, and the next week she died in her sleep. Her blood sugar dropped in her sleep and she never woke up. She never had any children. You don't expect at 30 to be losing friends your age. I am sure her parents did not expect to lose both of their children so young.

Her parents are now raising their grandsons from Robbie. They have the boys, and the other grandparents have the girls. I see her sometimes in the grocery store. I feel so bad for her. Both of her children are gone, and she is raising children again. Then I think of God's plan. Maybe he knew without those kids to raise, she wouldn't make it through this.

This really made me stop and think about some things. I am so blessed. I have a husband who I love more than anything. He loves me. More importantly, he loves and obeys the Lord. He works harder than most people I know. Even though I was not raised the way we are raising our children, God blessed our relationship. We were not Christians when we started dating, and not even when we married. But we were saved very shortly thereafter. We have been blessed with 4 children. I am able to homeschool them and teach them about from the Bible, and about service and family.

In this world, we have a finite amount of time. Once it is over, that's it. You can't go back, you can't change anything. I want to live my life with no regrets that I wasted it. Of course I have regrets, I have made mistakes, but I want to live in such a way that if I died tommorrow, those around me would have peace knowing where I would be and knowing I loved them. I want to live so that I can face the Lord and hear him say "well done". I want to pass on my love for the Lord and my family.

As I have heard Susan Bradrick say, no matter what your nationality, income, or status, you cannot get time back. Each one of us only gets so much and when its over, it is over. I don't want to waste mine.

Tragedy

My friend L. and her family are going through a tragedy right now. They have had several miscarriages, and lost a baby girl last year. They are trying to adopt, and were told over thanksgiving (when their little girl would be celebrating her first birthday) that they were picked to be the parents of a little boy due in January. They have met with the young lady several times and were so happy. Joy abounded and the Lord was praised.

Last night, the little boy died. I just cannot even imagine their pain right now. Please lift them up in your prayers. They are one of the most faithful people you could ever meet. They know God will get them through, but the pain is still there. Thanks.

How Far Will You Go?

Got this today and thought it was worth passing on.

How far will you go?
Technology has shrunk this world of ours.
Tasks that took our grandparents hours take only minutes.
We fly thousands of miles in mere hours.
How we love the convenience!
In fact, we’ve grown so accustomed to this easy access we begrudge the simplest effort.
Why else would we need a remote control when any TV switch is only a few steps across the room?
It’s a drive through, microwave dinner, pizza delivery sort of world, and we’re proud of it.
How difficult it is, then, to imagine the weary travelers in today’s gospel. Questing magi trudged thousands of miles to seek a newborn Jesus and then went back again.
Joseph leads a newly delivered mother and child over dark, arduous roads to Egypt, and back again.
How can we understand these willing sacrifices while we sit in our homes pining for self-loading dishwashers?
If our refrigerator is too far a walk from the couch, how far would we go for God?
©Copyright 2006 C L Enterprises

Kitchen Playset

Here are some pictures of Pear's kitchen playset. We got these wood pieces at a public school surplus sale. It was kinda funny, because my friend with her kids, and me with mine followed her over to the sale during *school* hours and we saw mainly fellow homeschoolers there. I bought these and stuck them in my friends van. Then Mr. Brown went over and picked them up and took them to my neighbor's shop in her backyard. Then we sanded and painted them and gave them to her 2 christmas ago. I think they look great, she loves them and was so surprised, and they only cost about $40 total.




Here are the fridge and stove.



Here is the sink.