New Years Resolutions

In the midst of a trashed house, 5 kids ranging from ages 2 to 11, a husband, a sister, and a brother-in-law, 2008 will become 2009 in a flash. But . . . . before that happens I have to list my New Years Resolutions. I am the kind of girl who LOVES a clean slate. I love New Years and, while I may fail to keep many of my resolutions, I sure love giving them a good try. So. . . . here it goes.

1. Be more organized.
2. Eat healthier and feed my family healthier.
3. Stop eating out so much and cook more at home.
4. To not blog, read blogs, or get on facebook until ALL of my work is done.
5. To be more immersed in the things my husband and children like.
6. To listen to people not just with my ears, but with my eyes, to give them my full, undivided attention.
7. To go and see my parents and grandparents more.
8. Be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend.
9. Have lunch with the kids in my Wednesday class at their schools. Be very in-tune with their lives.
10. Grow closer and closer to the LORD.
11. Fast and pray more than I did in 2008.
12. Make more time for my personal reading pleasure. I read lots of things with my children. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read. However, the books I want to read often come at the end of the list. I want to make at least 30 minutes a day for reading what I want!!!
13. To be sincerely kind to those people who I know don't like me very much, to truly care for them and reach out to them (this is a tough one for this people-pleaser, approval addict - normally if someone doesn't like me it is VERY hard for me to accept and I tend to withdraw myself from them).
14. To reach out and try and get together with friends I don't see very often.

Really this list could go on and and on. These are the things that are most important to me. I guess if I had to sum up the way I want to live 2009 I will have to borrow the words from Chris Tomlin's "The Way I was Made," - "I want to LIVE like there's no tomorrow. I want to DANCE like no one's around. I want to SING like nobody's listening (a big sorry to those who are anywhere in hearing range) before I lay my body down. I want to GIVE like I have plenty. I want to LOVE like I'm not afraid. I want to be the man (woman) I was meant to be. I want to be the man (woman) I was made."

Happy New year everyone!!!

Family Picture

My sister, Melissa, who is the one to the left of me (if you're looking at the picture), is a photographer. Although we had lots of whining (Hanna), a little bit of complaining (everyone), a "hurry up we've got to get to Grandmama and Papa's" attitude (me), we got a family photo and it turned out GREAT!!! Believe it or not Toby (the dog) was the one who cooperated the entire time. He must have seen a rabbit or something for him to have turned his head. There are 3 of us girls. Melissa is the funny one. Kristen is the sweet/slightly spoiled one. Can you tell that I am the prissy one? Check out that high-heeled foot turned up!!!

Twelve years ago today . . . .

Twelve years ago today, a feisty, young, know-it-all redhead walked down the aisle of a beautiful church in a small town and pledged to love a funny, witty, honest, and loyal man "in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death do us part." If someone would have told me 12 years ago that I would be more in love with Jon now than I was on our wedding day, I would have probably told them it was impossible. I felt that it was absolutely impossible to love someone more than I loved Jon that day. After all, the wedding song I picked was, "Only God Could Love you More." Boy, would that then, "know-it-all", have been wrong.

As each year passes I grow more and more in love with this man God has so richly blessed me with, the one God has made me "one" with. He has made my life a real-life Cinderella story; a true-life Prince Charming Jon is. Each year we are married it just gets better and better, and how I pray that will continue to be the trend.

I take no credit for our wonderful marriage, and although I am tempted to give Jon some credit, I really can't do that either. For it is truly our relationship with the LORD and our growing closer to Him that enables us to have the marriage that we do. For you see, I truly believe the more in love with Jesus each of us falls, the more in love with one another we fall. I really believe God designed us that way. Don't you just love that?

In honor of our 12-year anniversary I going to list 12 reasons why I love being married to Jon.

1. I love how he holds my hand at night while we fall asleep (most of the time I am asleep first *smile*).
2. I love how he will put on music, pull me close to him and dance with me (Jon would NEVER EVER dance in public, but he makes up for that by dancing with me at home).
3. I love his honesty, integrity, and loyalty.
4. I love that he inspires me and encourages me by both his words and actions to be a better person.
5. I love that he leads our family in prayer every night and we go to church as a family.
6. I love that he is the funniest person I know and can make me laugh until it hurts. I love that very rarely a day will go by without him making me laugh.
7. I love that when we fight or are distant from one another that I still get this pit and ache in my stomach, my heart still races, and I want and need to very quickly to make things right.
8. I love that when I am stressed or in too much of a "Go, Go, Go" mode, he will stop me and give me a hug, reminding me to "not sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff."
9. I love his playfulness, his laidbackness, and his flirtiness.
10. I love his relationship with each of our children. He is a wonderful Daddy.
11. I love that when I look at him I can see in his eyes how much he loves me.
12. I love that he loves . . . that's all.

What Christmas Looks Like at Our House

Happy Birthday Jesus - A couple of days before Christmas we bake a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake. This is something our family has done since Alec was 2.

I love the look on Hanna's face in this picture

Yummy, I can't wait to taste it

Christmas Eve shopping - Every Christmas Eve we all go shopping. This is something Jon has done since he was a child. His Dad would take him and his brother and sister out to the mall Christmas Eve to buy a present for their mom. Their mom would stay at the house and prepare food for Christmas Day. I don't stay at home and cook. I join in with the shopping. This is the day we set aside for the children to buy Christmas presents for one another and for Jon and I. We always either eat lunch or dinner out somewhere special. This year we decided to stay in our hometown (which doesn't have a mall) and we ate Mexican food out. Yummy!!! We met Jon's parents at the Mexican restaurant.

The Christmas Code - to keep my very bright children from guessing what they get for Christmas, we have something called the Christmas code. Every year I chose a specific way to wrap each of their presents, i.e., color of bow, wrapping paper, sometimes on the tag I will put a number. I never, ever put their name on their presents. If they are able to guess which method of wrapping paper is theirs and why, then they bust the Christmas code. The reward - they get to open one present (chosen by Jon or I) on Christmas Eve night. They have only busted it one year. This year, however, the baby of the family, Hanna, busted it.

Their Christmas Eve present they got to open was PJs (I think they were slightly disappointed that it was not a toy they got to open)

My sweet hubby on Christmas Eve

Interactive Manger Scene - This is something "Family Life" puts out. It is entitled, "What God Wants for Christmas." You can get them at Christian bookstores. Each character in the manger scene comes inside a gift box that the children open. You tell the Christmas story with each gift that is opened. At the end is present #7. It contains what God wants for Christmas. I don't want to spoil it for anyone. But this is such a very special and precious thing. I love it!!! I also do this with my Wednesday night class at church I teach.

Alec put the wise man face down worshiping Jesus.

Advent Jesse Tree - This was a new tradition for our family this year, but it will be something we continue for years to come. You start on December 1. Every day you do a devotional and each day has an ornament you place on the tree that coincides with the devotion for that day. The devotions all point out to how Jesus is the Messiah. It weaves in both Old Testament and New Testament. It is WONDERFUL!!!!

Christmas stockings - I LOVE the stockings at Christmas. I always put Reese's peanut better cups in Jon's (his favorite). I guess I am so predictable because when I went to fill up the stockings I looked inside my bag and found out someone had gotten into the Reese's cups. They come 8 in a pack, and only 5 were left. Gee . . . I wonder who could have gotten into them . . Ahem . . . Jon?

Christmas morning - Our Christmas morning begins with the children waking up (this year Alec set his alarm clock to 5:00 AM, then he woke his sisters up). They all come into our bedroom filled with so MUCH excitement. Before we head into the living room we all bow down and praise God and thank Him for sending Jesus to live and to die for our sins. After our prayer, we go into the living room to see . . . . .

Strings and Strings of Yarn - Each child gets a certain colored yarn. Each string begins at the Christmas tree. They have to follow their string and they end up with a present at the end. I get pretty carried away with the yarn. I put their presents in kitchen cabinets, behind couch cushions, in the oven. I just try to be really creative to place their presents in unexpected places. I have so much fun doing this every year. It is a lot of work and pretty time consuming, but well worth it. I just giggle every year as I am up preparing this "spider web" of yarn. To be totally honest, it aggravates Jon just a little bit especially as he was trying to maneuver himself upstairs through the yarn to go to bed, but the kids LOVE it (and so do I)!!!! It makes Christmas morning last extra long, rather than them just tearing into their presents.



They all bring their presents to the Christmas tree and when all have found their presents they start to open them.
I don't have any good pictures of Ash to post, but TRUST me, she was having a BLAST!!!

After the kids open their presents and play for awhile we light our "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake, sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out the candles. We chose 5 candles for the 5 people in our family. We eat this for breakfast. I also made a breakfast casserole too (per hubby's request).

Nontraditional Christmas meal - We are always super-duper busy on Christmas. We are very blessed and have lots of family. This year we stayed home ALL DAY LONG. All of our families were coming this weekend, so we are celebrating later with them. We all made our own pizzas. I took Christmas tree cookie cutters and candy cane cookie cutters and cut out some pizza dough. Here is a small sample of our lunch.
Later that evening we all made our own gingerbread houses. This was really a lot of fun! After we finished we watched the National Gingerbread House competition held at Grove Park Inn on the Food Network.
These are the order of our houses - Jon made a shack. I made a house full of children. Hanna made just a regular house. Alec made a church (see his peppermint steeple and cross? That kid is so dang creative!!!) Ash had a wide variety of things on her house - Santa Claus, his reindeer, bag of toys, Christmas tree with ornaments, candy cane, Santa's sled, Christmas lights, smiley faces. (Her roof actually collapsed because of all of the weight of the candy).

Merry Christmas To All

This is the picture I used on our Christmas card this year. I couldn't get it to scan right. Plus it had our last name on it, so I decided I should just post the picture.

The card reads, "Hanna is wishing all a very Merry Christmas."

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I pray Christ's blessings on each of you and your families!!!

My Break-Wind Friend

I have so many things I want to blog about, so I may be a blogger-on- steroids for the next few days. I will do my very best not to be so "wordy." I just had to blog about this first because I knew it would slip my mind.

About 2 years ago I trained to run in the Walt Disney Marathon. Early on Saturday morning I would go out to a local track and run my long runs. I met this older gentleman there whom very quickly I came to call my friend.

When we first started running together we would run a lap or 2. We would talk about running, why we run, why we love running, blah, blah, blah. We ran together every Saturday. A few weeks after meeting him we would run a few miles together. Eventually, as time went on, we would run 6 or 7 miles together. It makes the time go so much faster when you have someone to talk to.

About the 3rd or 4th time we ran together he was telling me a story or something, anyway something where he controlled the conversation. Right in the middle of the story he breaks wind. Not the kind of breaking wind when you take off and run real fast. Like the kind of breaking wind that causes my kids (and hubby and myself) to giggle. Y'all it was so funny! I had to try so hard to control my laughter. He literally paused in the middle of the conversation while he broke wind and then continued with what he was saying. Later on during the run he did it AGAIN!! I remember thinking, "He must have eaten Mexican last night!"

I did not judge him though. When you run, this is just something that happens. Why - I don't know, maybe all the digestive juices are moving around? Whatever. . . . it just happens. It was just funny to me how he paused in his story, did his business, and then continued with what he was saying. I would have tried to hide mine a little more - like by coughing REALLY LOUD or SOMETHING:)

I came home and told my family about him, appropriately naming him my "break wind friend."

At the beginning of our friendship I decided if this man doesn't know Jesus, he needs to, so I am going to witness to him. For at least 6 to 8 weeks of running I would tell him of the way God has blessed my family, just how good God is. I meant I was going to win this man to the LORD!

Well, in typical "Michele fashion," we are running together about 10 weeks into our new "running friendship" and he was talking about being retired. Naturally, I asked him what he retired from? You guessed it? The ministry. He was a former pastor of a church around here for 15 years!!! I just grinned from ear-to-ear and I hope the LORD was to. Stuff like this happens to me ALL THE TIME!!! Here I was determined to win a man over to Jesus who had already been won over!!! We then were able to talk about people, pastors, etc. we knew. It was really neat to get a retired pastor's perspective on the ins and outs of ministry. He is such a sweet man.

After I ran my marathon I did a semi-retirement from long-distance running. Thankfully I am out of retirement now and back pounding the pavement. However, I haven't been out to the track since I trained.

Yesterday I was in Zaxby's with my kiddos and father-in-law. I see this man that I think looks like my break-wind friend. You know everyone looks very different when they are running. I am one of those girls who THANKS GOD for makeup, accessories, hair products, cute clothes, etc., because without them, I am a sight for sore eyes *grin*. After debating in my head whether or not I should go over to his table and find out who this man was, I decided "why not?" The worst thing that could happen is I look foolish, and I happen to be a pro at that, so what the heck?

It was my break-wind friend!!! It made my day to see him. I got to meet his wife. He got to meet the children he practically knew and my father-in-law, whom I am sure I talked about when running. He has run in 2 marathons and is training for his 3rd since we last ran together. He told me he is still at the track on Saturday mornings.

In January I start training for a 1/2 marathon that I am running in March. You know what, rather than running through my neighborhood with Jon's GPS watch to keep track of my distance, I think I will head to the tract to reconnect with my break-wind friend! He was so sweet. He told me that since he didn't see me at the track after I ran my marathon he looked up my results online. He told me I did good and congratulated me!

After sitting back down at my table I told the children that the man I was talking to was the one I used to run with. Y'all I was so afraid Ashley was going to say, in her loud Ashley-self, "You mean, your break-wind friend." Shewww! Much to my surprise, she didn't. I think I would have crawled under the table if she had.

The "8 tag"

I' was tagged by my bloggy friend, Heather, over at Life at Sonic Speed. So here goes my "8".



8 Shows I watch:

1. Biggest Loser.

2. Fox news.

3. What Not to Wear.

4. Jon and Kate plus 8.

5. Worst Week.

6. The Office.

7. Sorry, that is about it. Unfortunately, right now life is so busy I really don't have too much time to even watch the ones I listed.



8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Slices Pizzeria.

2. Bone Fish.

3. El Toro Loco.

4. Barbara Jeans.

5. Carabbas.

6. Chick-fil-A.

7. Outback.

8. Mellow Mushroom.



8 Things that Happened to Me Today:

1. Ate a yummy breakfast at Blue Ridge Dining Room at Grove Park Inn with a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

2. Walked around GPI with Jon, savoring our last day there.

3. Drove home and ate at Johnny Carinos on the way home.

4. Met Mama and James and got the kiddos.

5. Came home and checked e-mails.

6. Cuddled up on the sofa with the kids to watch Wizard of Oz.

7. Downloaded our pictures from the weekend.

8. Watched this video on You Tube about my little sister getting a new car for Christmas.



8 Things I Look Forward to:

1. Christmas Eve where we will take our kids out shopping for one another and Jon and I. This has been a Christmas tradition in my husband's family since he was a boy.

2. Christmas Day. Seeing my kiddos faces when they get to open their surprises, eating our "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake and celebrating the birth of our Savior!

3. Staying at home ALL DAY LONG Christmas day. Normally we are always somewhere else. But, this weekend we will be celebrating Christmas with all of our family.

4. Celebrating Christmas with Jon's family Saturday at lunch.

5. Celebrating Christmas with my family Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

6. Spending the night at mom's house Saturday night with my sisters and their families.

7. Scott, Melissa, Noelle, and "Beans" coming into town. I CAN'T wait to see them.

8. Jon and I's anniversary on Sunday.

8 Things I Wish For:

1. For all of my family and loved ones to be in good health.

2. My Daddy's salvation.

3. God to be clear about which direction He would take Jon career wise - do we continue flipping houses full time in a very unhealthy real estate market or does Jon go and get a job and flip houses part time? If a job is the answer, then a career path Jon would enjoy.

4. People to see more of Jesus in me and not the me in me (Thanks Heather! I stole this one from you).

5. More people to really love Jesus...to go beyond "religion" or "routine" (I had to steal this one too!)

6. That my children would love God with all of their heart, soul, strength, and mind.

7. I prioritize the things in my life that God would have me prioritize, and not the things my flesh desires. That I will live each day storing up for myself treasures in heaven..

8. Melissa and her family to move back to Georgia!

People I Tag: Anyone and everyone who wants to join in on the meme fun!

Christmas in Dixie

Yesterday we had our Christmas gift exchange with our friends, who might as well be called family, Tiff and crew. The kids were all very excited about their gifts. I just love hearing the tearing of the wrapping paper, and the, "Thank you. Oh, cool!, Look!" out of their sweet little mouths.
This is SUPPOSED to be December, Christmas time - a time when we are bundling our chidlren up in their coats before they go outside; a time when we are telling them they can't play too long outside because we don't want them to get sick. It is supposed to be a time when I can't wait for Jon to get home to build us a fire in the fireplace. It is supposed to be a time when I am craving hot apple cider or hot chocolate to warm me up because I am so COLD!! But . . . . here in Georgia, for the past 2 days it has been quite warm and stuffy. What is going on with this weather I don't know!!! Yesterday I tried my hardest not to turn on the air, but I gave in. It is Christmas time and I am turning my air conditioning on!!! The kids played outside barefooted and with capris on. The boys were even at the fort in the woods without their shirts on. That is how warm it is here. It is really hard for it to feel like Christmas when you are thinking, "Oh no, I really need to go and get a pedicure to wear my sandals instead of my boots." I did check the weather though and it is supposed to be normal "Christmasy" temps next week.

Yep, here are Tiff and I's bare feet outside. Please excuse our "winter" toes.

Here the boys are drinking cold water because they are so hot after playing in the woods

The girls raked up a pile of leaves and would stand on this hill. They would say, "Go," and they all would hold hands and run and jump into the pile of leaves.

Look at those sweet faces - full of JOY!!

BUSTED!!!

Earlier this week I told Jon to clear his calender for a time when I was taking him on a "surprise" trip. This morning Jon informed me that he knew where we were going. We played this cat and mouse game of "No you don't", "Yes I do." Eventually when he said we are going to GPI (Grove Park Inn) I was SHOCKED! How did he find out? He doesn't read my blog. He hasn't talked to any of my friends.

He has been buying video games off ebay and the ebay account is in my name. Therefore, all of the ebay emails go to my computer (we have separate computers). Jon NEVER, EVER gets on my computer! He had one video game that was scratched, so last night he got on my computer to see if the seller had emailed him about the video game. As he was scrolling down my thousands of e-mails he saw the confirmation.

He was so sweet. He said he said to himself, "Please don't be it, please don't be it." He didn't open the email, but he knew by the subject line that was it.

Y'all I was so mad!!! I told him I was so mad I didn't even feel like going to church to worship Jesus. I went downstairs and he tried to follow me. I had tears in my eyes and they were about to spill forth like Niagara Falls. I even told him I couldn't talk about it because we had to go to church and I didn't want to mess up my makeup.

I wasn't mad at him. I really do believe he wasn't purposely trying to find out. I was just mad that he found out. He was so sweet. He told me he couldn't fake being surprised and he just had to tell me. One of the things I have always admired most about Jon is his honesty (even though it has hurt at times:).

So, now we get to talk about our trip together. He checked out Grove Park online and was very impressed. I told him I had the whole itinerary planned out. Jon has always planned ALL of our vacations, so I really wanted to impress him with my ability to plan. Don't get me wrong he does his research through and through and has always planned great vacations. There is just something to be said about doing something you've never done before.

Tonight when the kiddos go to bed we are going to get online and look at everything together. I am still very excited. I just had to have a pity party for awhile. It didn't take me too long to get over myself though.

My Favorite Christmas Present

This will be Jon and I's 13th Christmas together and 12 of those we have been married. Jon is really a great guy, but every Christmas morning all of the stockings on the mantle will be full except for mine. He will then wince and do the, "Aw man, I forgot. I'm so sorry sweetie." Every. Single. Year. That is until year #10. Year #10 I told him not to even think about filling my stocking because I would do it myself and I was going to make up for the last 10 years. My stocking runneth over. I know I spent at least $100 on my stocking. Truth be known, it was probably closer to $150. Did I feel guilty? No way Jose! I was secretly hoping this would teach him a lesson (he's what I call a budget Nazi).

Last Christmas morning after we had all opened our gifts we went to the fireplace for the kids to rummage through their stockings. To my surprise mine was FULL! I saw this note folded up sticking out of my stocking. It said . . .

"Since we've been married this is Christmas eleven
And they will all be spent with you until I'm in heaven
You notice this year that your stocking was stuffed
I finally realized you'd had enough
Although for ten years I may have forgot
My love for you has not lessened a drop
I do not promise I will always remember
To fill your stocking on the 25th of December
But remember this morning as you open your gifts
That everlasting love is more than a myth
You may rise another Christmas morning to find a stocking that's flat
But I'll be there beside you, and I'm sure of that."

I cried like you wouldn't believe, then he cried. I was so very touched. I held this piece of paper all Christmas morning and every time I would read it I would start crying. Jon's parents came over later that morning. I read the poem to them, and they started crying. I was so blessed by Jon's thoughtfulness. The thing is, on Christmas Eve, Jon spent a long time in our home office at the computer. The kids and I even watched a movie (which most of the time Jon will join us for). I just thought maybe he needed some time to himself. He was actually writing this poem.

I kept it folded up in my purse for the longest time, then I decided to frame it. It now sits on a table in my living room for everyone to see.

What about you guys, what is the best give you ever received?

Wordless Wednesday

By the end of this month I am surprising my husband with a trip, and this is where we are staying. I am so very EXCITED I can hardly stand it!!! I got an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G deal. Thank you LORD!!!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

This past weekend was filled full of Christmas cheer. Saturday we took off with Tiffani and her family and Julie and her family and all headed to Stone Mountain for a "Stone Mountain Christmas." Jon and I have been wanting to do this for years, so we were very excited. We had a great time with our friends. The biggest thing was it was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G cold at night. We were so cold we could not feel our toes. After we left we took off to Cracker Barrel for some good ole' Southern cooking. I was so excited because I actually got our Christmas stockings there for 40% off. We have had the same stockings for about 8 years now and I hate them. You can hardly put anything in them at all. This year I had actually bought fabric to make us some stockings; however, I CAN NOT motivate myself to sew, so I was really excited when I found our stockings!!!

Jon and I on the "Singing Train" Jon was really such a trooper. The SEC championship was going on that night. I told him the kids and I could just go, but he refused. He came along, but he did remind me that this was "the biggest game of the year" (he says that about all of them). My sister would call and text me with updates. We were pulling hard for Bama - Roll Tide! But the FL Gators pulled it off!
Alec and Connor after Alec burned his mouth with hot chocolate. I guess he didn't take them seriously when it said HOT chocolate. Poor thing! His mouth was scolded and I think he was really, really embarrassed.

Tim, Avery, and Julie on the "Singing Train"

Tiffani and Me on "Singing Train"

JuJu and Hanna (can you believe these girls are in the same grade? JuJu is super small and Hanna is super tall)

Sweet Avery. This cute kiddo is a great source of entertainment. I could literally watch him roll his eyes all day long. He was so very good! Can't you just eat him up?

Hanna Boo and Me

Best Friends - This is Ash and her best friend, Beth

Me and Julie in Santa Hats

Stone Mountain town lit up at night

Santa and Mrs. Claus

Waiting on the laser show. We were F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!!!!

Avery and Tim

These 3 beauties went to church with me on Sunday - aren't they precious? Beth came home with us after we ate at Cracker Barrel. The girls had a GREAT time!

We only went to Sunday School on Sunday and skipped church. We really needed to get our Christmas tree and Sunday night we had something going on. It was really cold, so we picked out our tree really fast. Here are the girls freezing.

The perfect tree for our family

Jon and Alec loading the tree onto Jon's truck

Hanna decorating the tree

Beth and Ash decorating the tree

Alec chose to watch the Falcons game with Jon. However, decorating the tree is one of my favorite things at Christmastime. I put Christmas music on and we sing together. Every year I put on the lights and every year the lights and I fight. I always plug them in together and make sure all of them work before I string them on the tree. Just about every year I get so mad because I will string them up and be so excited to light up the tree and NOTHING! They will not work. Usually Jon will come to my rescue and figure it out for me. So before I plugged it in I asked the girls who they thought would win the fight this year - me or the lights? They all voted for me and, guess what? They were right. I started high-fiving the girls I was so excited!!!

This year as I watched the girls decorate This year as I watched the girls decorate the tree my eyes filled with tears. I was just overwhelmed at God's goodness and how He has blessed me. It really gave me a craving for my home to be filled with lots of children. I prayed that whatever His will was that He would just fill my home with as many children as He would have! (Please don't mistake this as baby fever. I do not have baby fever!)I was just really trying to savor the moment. I know that I am going to blink and pretty soon it will be just me decorating my tree. I loved to hear the girls' excitement as they found different ornaments. I let them have free reign. I told them to be as creative as they liked. They used ribbon, beads, etc. There have been years in the past when I really wanted to have a "Southern Living" tree. My mother-in-law has the most beautiful Christmas tree. But growing up my mom always let us decorate the tree however we liked, and I can remember this making me feel so special. So I always let the kids do it and leave it just like they decorate it! However, I did decorate the mantle.

Our mantle

The Finished Tree!

Later that evening we went over to Stephanie and Barry's for an ornament swap. Oh My Goodness! This was so much fun! We stole and got stolen from. We would plot within our family to try and get the ornaments we wanted. Funny thing is, we had the largest family there! It was all in good fun. Thanks Steph for such a fun time. Here we all are showing off our ornaments!

Summing it Up

Not much blog worthy has been going on this week, but just so my very tired mind will remember this week I am going to sum it up.

• Monday - My friend, Lisa, had to have an emergency surgery to remove a hernia, so I had one more child added to my crew. I had her oldest little boy. Bless his heart, I felt so bad for him. We had both ballet and basketball and my kids get pretty bored having to wait on their siblings; however, they are used to it. So, I felt extra sorry for Tucker. He was a trooper though and hung in there. We went from ballet to our favorite pizza spot then headed to Ash's first basketball practice for the season. The girl is a natural athlete. Even one of the other mom's commented on it. I think so many people think she gets it from me since I am so into working out. Actually her Daddy is the athlete. I always tell people I run because anyone can do it, just put one foot in front of the other. I really am a very clumsy person with no athletic ability whatsoever.
• Tuesday - Alec and Ash had "homeschool school." Hanna and I went shopping and got things for our Advent Jesse tree. I love this idea. It has really been fun for my family, and we have learned so much. It teaches how Jesus has been there from the beginning and He just didn't come on the scene on Christmas Day. We have a devotion every morning and an ornament to go to the tree that relates to the ornament. We then went to vote. Jon also got his X-Box 360. The kids (Jon being one of them) were stoked and so very excited!!! Alec had swim practice.
• Wednesday - We met with some of our friends and got together goodies to send to the soldiers serving over in Iraq. This was a fun time. There is one really neat lady, Jane, who I really like a whole lot. I am going to make a point to have she and her kids over for lunch one day. She, like me, works and homeschools. For a long time she did the 4:00 AM thing like I do. Now she works after her hubby gets home. She has 5, yes 5, children though. I could probably learn ALOT from her! She seems to have it all together. She assured me she does not. She sure has me fooled!!

Wednesday night at church I got a call from my father-in-law saying he really needed to talk with Jon and I. He has not been his normal self for many, many months now. Anyway, to make a long story short I got my kids and we left church. I tried to get in touch with Jon's mom, but couldn't. I went by her church to see if she was there - no dice. Jon's dad then came over and said some really odd things. The problem is the doctor's haven't diagnosed him with anything. One doctor was leaning towards colon cancer because he has had a lot of weight loss and no appetite. But, praise the LORD, he does not have colon cancer. I am just praying that soon we will find out what is wrong and it can be fixed. I have cried my eyeballs out so many times grieving over him. Poor Jon, he is having to console me, and it is his Dad. When praying the other day I realized the LORD is allowing me to grieve now, so that when it comes time for Jon to grieve I can be strong for him. Jon is swamped with work right now, but I believe that is a good thing so he doesn't have time to think about all that is going on with his Dad. He did say the other night after his Dad left that he knows his Dad is no longer the man he knows, that he has essentially lost his Dad already. I have just been in such a funk since Wed. night. I feel so heavy, like I have this dark cloud hanging over my head.

• Thursday - I was SWAMPED with work!! Ash had an orthodontist appointment and got green and red bands on her braces. A friend came over and we made ornaments for our kids' teachers. She is so funny and cracks me up! I really needed to laugh after Wed. night. I had to cut our visit short though because I had to meet this lady to sign a contract who is renting one of our houses we have for sale. Praise the LORD!! God is really looking after us during this S-L-O-W real estate market!!! I was so tired (maybe it is because of this black cloud that keeps following me around:) and I was asleep before 9:00 PM. I even set my alarm to 5:00 AM instead of 4:00 AM.
• Friday - Remind me to not ever set my alarm an hour later. Trust me, I may get more sleep but work drags on. I am so much slower once everyone wakes up. I didn't finish until almost 10:30. We started school at 11:00 - YUCK! I hate doing this. I really like to start at 8:00 AM. I am on homeschool burnout right now and I can't wait until we take a break. None of us wanted to do school today, but I told the kids if we were going to take a Christmas break we had to push through! We did! Alec had swim practice and now we are home. Jon is still working and I am not sure when he will be home. I think I am going to go get the kids in bed and put on a good movie. Tomorrow we are heading to Stone Mountains with some friends and I am so excited! It is going to be a great day!

Hope everyone out there in bloggy world has a wonderful weekend!

Just for Fun

I copied this from Tiffani's blog and decided it would be fun to do something random for a change. Okay, this has to be one word, which is pretty hard for this wordy girl. I have cheated a little bit because I hyphenated. After all, though, this is just for fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? bedroom
2. Your significant other? working
3. Your hair? long
4. Your mother? sacrificial
5. Your Father? hard-working
6.. Your favorite thing? Jesus
7.Your dream last night? NOTHING
8. Your favorite drink? coffee
9. Your dream/goal? heavenly-crowns
10. The room you're in? office
11. Your fear? loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? discerning
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? lazy
15. Muffins? fattening
16. One of your wish list items? real-estate-boom
17. Where you grew up? Georgia
18. The last thing you did? ran
19. What are you wearing? clothes
20. Your TV? too-many
21. Your Pets? none
22. Your Computer? necessary
23.Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? good
25. Missing someone? Sister
26. Your car? Noah's-Ark
27. Something you're not wearing? socks
28. Favorite Store? Beall's
29. Your summer? AWESOME!
30. Your favorite color? red
31. When is the last time you laughed? today
32. Last time you cried? today
33. FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: church, Wal-Mart, ballet, swim
34. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: salad, pizza, Mexican, Mom's.
35. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: Hawaii, New York, Snow Skiing, Beach.