December 4

Yep, we are still strolling down memory lane. This is from 2008! I guess I better get busy putting up the Christmas decorations around here or I'm not going to be able to post anything after tomorrow!
I love this picture because what it means to "Believe" has evolved around our house every year. Of course, when the boys were little (and Delaney still) to "Believe" meant Santa....flying reindeer...elves...and trying your best to be good so that you would get presents and not coal. But now for my boys to "Believe" means....a baby in a manger...forgiven sins...wise men and shepherds...and living your life for Jesus so that you can go to Heaven!
I loved and still love every year that my children "believe" in Santa. But I'm so thankful and grateful that each one of my children have come to "believe" in the true meaning of Christmas. It's still fun to pretend that a fat man in a red suit brings presents in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. But it's a blessing to know that the God of Heaven came to Earth as a baby, lived his life to show us how to live ours, died on a cross so that we could have eternal life and rose again 3 days later to show us that he has all power! Now that's something to "BELIEVE" in!

December 3

Another trip down memory lane today! This picture is from 2007.
I always make sure to get a picture of the kid's faces on Christmas morning when they come in to see the tree for the first time. The look of wonder and awe on their faces makes every sacrifice worth while.

And I included a picture of what they saw as they rounded the corner on Christmas morning. Every year my husband and I stand back after all the presents have been wrapped and placed under the tree and give God the glory and praise for how he blesses and provides for our family.

December 2

I thought I would continue with the walk down memory lane today. 1) Because it's fun 2) Because I have no Christmas pictures ready for this year :)
This was taken in 2006. Our first year in Florida. It was very hard for the boys and I to get into the Christmas spirit that year. Our brains could not convince our hearts that it was time for Christmas when we were still wearing short sleeves and flowers were still blooming in our yard. But one trip to Walt Disney World to see the Osborne (has nothing to do with Ozzie) Family Christmas Lights and we were singing Christmas songs for the rest of the night. (On a side note if you have never seen this fantastic display, you really must! It is amazing!)
And just encase you cannot tell from the picture my daughter, had no trouble at all getting in the Christmas spirit. I love the look of pure wonder on her tiny face as she is overtaken by the glow of millions of lights).

PS I thought some of you might want to join me on this little adventure so if you click the picture below you will be taken to a website that will explain this project better than I ever could!

December Photo Project

OK I'm not going to offer any excuses or even try to catch up on all of the things that I have not blogged about. I'm just going to pick up here and start fresh! I'm not even going to promise that I will not disappear again (cause sometimes life happens and there is nothing we can do about it).

This month I have decided to participate in the December Photo Project (Thanks Tammy, I think). Everyday I will post a picture of how I see the Christmas season.

So here goes.

December 1

I thought I would start off with a walk down memory lane. This was Christmas 2005! My goodness how they have grown. This was back when reindeer still flew, Christmas lists were filled with toys, growing-up seemed a long way a way, and paper chains counted down the days till Christmas.
How precious are my memories of those days! Blink and they are gone. That's why this Christmas I'm determined to hold on to every minute and count every second because in a few years the pictures of this Christmas will be my walk down memory lane!

A Little Apology

I just wanted to apologize for not posting anything lately.

August is not a good month for my family and I. August 31st is the birthday of our third son (our angel baby). While it has been 11 years since Darin came into our lives and left us in a blink of an eye. In August (when we should be celebrating) and in October (when we remember his passing) I still have a very hard time coping with life in general.

So, I just wanted to say that I will be back to posting again soon. I will leave you with a picture of my sweet little Dare-Dare (Andrew's nickname for him) and the scripture that has seen me through the darkest days of my life and given me hope when I had none.

The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:18

First Mother-Daughter Trip!

My daughter and I went on our FIRST Mother/Daughter trip this past week. We went to an All-Girls Conference called "Hadassah" with my best friend and her two amazing daughters.

Hadassah was the Hebrew name of Queen Esther. Her story is one of the most amazing and inspiring stories in the Bible. A simple girl, chosen by a King, who saved her entire race because of her boldness and courage.

My favorite scripture from this story is found in Ester Chapter 4 Verse 14

"For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, [then] shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for [such] a time as this?"

The SUCH A TIME AS THIS is the part that always chokes me up (but I think I'll save that for another post).

We had a wonderful time. Delaney and I started building the foundation for our future friendship. My daughter is 8 years old and I know that I cannot be her best friend right now (I need to be her mother, she needs a mother more than she needs a friend) but one day I hope and pray that I will be her friend. I am smart enough to know though that our friendship is not just going to happen, that I need to begin building that friendship now. So that is what I started doing! And it was wonderful. I learned that my daughter is a special little girl that is growing up into quite a little lady! I cannot wait to see the woman that she will become and I'm very excited to have a friend like her in my life.

Here are a few pictures from our trip (part of my plan is for us to start a Mother/Daughter scrapbook), I hope you enjoy them.

The first night is a formal banquet (tiara's are optional)! A prettier princess there never has been! The plan for the tiara is that she will wear it every year to Hadassah and then she will wear it on her wedding day.


The first day is Princess Prep classes and yes, you may wear a tutu when learning to become a princess!

Butterfly wings, tutus and games with other princesses! What a great way to start the day! OH and they throw candy at you too!

The second night is a church service and the perfect opportunity to give her a special gift. I gave her a grown up Bible (it's pink with little fake diamonds on the clasp - she is a princess after all).

She loved it, of course!

After church it's time to PARTY! And nothing says PARTY like butterfly wings, tutus and roller skates! This was her first time on skates and she did great! By the end of the night she was barely holding on to the walls and she has now added skates to her Christmas list.

The last day is more Princess Prep Classes and then Coronation for the 15 year old girls.

So I'm going to mark our first Mother/Daughter trip down as a huge success! I'm already planning our next outing and counting down the days till our next Hadassah!

My New Habit for August

THIS IS NOT MY KITCHEN!
OH HOW I WISH IT WAS THOUGH!
I borrowed this picture from
another great blog.

Well, here goes!

I am not the best housekeeper!

Confession is good for the soul right? So let's confess!

I am way better than I used to be (that is actually an understatement) but I'm still not the greatest. My house is never company ready (unless I spend a day getting it that way), I have piles of things everywhere. You can write your name in the dust, your white socks are not going to be white once you walk through my house, and NO NO NO you may not open any doors that are closed!

I have tried lots of things, (Fly Lady, The House that Cleans Itself, Side-Tracked Home Executives, just to name a few) but in the end nothing really worked for me 100%. So now I'm going to try and combine the things from each program that worked and see if I can come up with my own "way"of getting things done.

I decided to start with the area of the home that I feel I need the least improvement in, THE KITCHEN. I hate, hate, hate to cook in a dirty kitchen and since I cook 3 meals a day, seven days a week, my kitchen stays fairly clean. There are of course areas that need to be improved on so that's what I'm focusing on in August (or longer if that's what it takes).

One of the areas that I really want to improve on is cleaning the kitchen one last time before I go to bed. I hate to wake up in the morning to a dirty kitchen, but I also don't want to get off the computer to go and clean it :) So, usually I don't and then I wake up in the morning to a sink of dirty dishes and I'm not happy with myself. So I'm going to FORCE myself to clean up the kitchen one more time before I head off to bed.

Another area that I really need to work on is sweeping and mopping the kitchen. I have 3 children who will be taking broom in hand and learning the fine art of sweeping up the crumbs :) I'll do the mopping but Child Training 101 is about to start and we are going to start with sweeping the kitchen after every meal! I can hear the groaning and the moaning already.

The other thing I want to do is at night before I clean the kitchen for the last time, I want to set up the coffee pot for in the morning and also pack my husband's lunch for the next day. I do these things in the morning now but I just think it would give me more "alone" time with my man if I did these two little things at night (before I clean the kitchen for the last time).

So those are the three areas that I'm starting with. I'm sure that I will be adding more things as I go along but I'm really trying hard not to overwhelm myself.

I have already cleaned my sink the Fly Lady "WAY" this morning and I must admit it looks so nice and sparkly.

So anyone want to join me in picking a room and really trying to get some good habits going in them?