Resolution's

So it's that time again, everyone at one point in their life have made them the good ol' New Year Resolution's I have made a few in my time and very few have I fallowed through (head hung in shame) I have thought alot about it this week and this is my list...

LOOSE WEIGHT:
1. loose 5 lbs of worry.. I have been toting around, over things that usually fix themselves.

2. loose 5 lbs of guilt..in life there are some things you just can't "do-over" repent, apologize, move on...nuf said!

3. loose 5 lbs of hurts..I choose to lay them down at the feet of God, he promises me he will take care of the rest!

4. loose 5 lbs of unforgivness..it only causes 5 more pounds of bitterness to creep in who wants that extra weight??


EAT HEALTHIER:

1. Read the Word every day instead of every other day.

2. Do more devotions and less t.v.

SEE THE PHYSICIAN REGULARLY:

1. spend more time in prayer

2. Ask God and wait for his answer...

3. do more listening to him and less telling him what I think he should do..


So this is "The List" maybe not what you would expect for resolution's, but I thought I'd give them a try...Wishing you a very Blessed and Happy New Year!!

Maria

Back to the real world..with stomach pain...

First just wanted to give you a quick update on baby Stellan, MckMama (his Mother) reports that he is fairing much better still in the ICU but doing better so please continue to keep them in your prayers!

Here on Beech Grove Road Husband and I have had to get back to the real world and go back to work today, the kidos don't return to school til next week so things are still a little crazy trying to figure out who will go where...and seems that there is some sort of stomach bug lurking on the home front...I had a touch of it Christmas day and it has kinda been going from person to person here at the house...Cassie reports that she feels "yucky" Kane is on the couch with stomach pain and Chad has just taken medicine for a headache....with Chad the headaches have been going on for months he had a CAT scan last week results found nothing so we have been set up for the 27th of this month to see a neurologist he has been having a great deal of pain on the right side of his head and has developed a twitch in his left eye, so please pray that we will find the problem soon he is not happy about any type of doctor visits therefore he often goes without letting me know when he feels bad...I'll keep you updated on our doctor visit.
Praying each of you have a blessed and Happy New Year!

Maria

Please Pray

I wasn't planning on posting tonight, I had only logged on to my blog tonight to check up on one of my fellow bloggers who has a very sick little boy, So I thought I would ask all who would to take time out and pray for little Stellan, he is the son of MckMama you will find her blog to the right of the screen and can read all updates he is fighting a very nasty case of RSV that has went from bad to worse in a matter of days. I know as a Mother we can be overwhelmed when we have a sick child so please lift her and the family up and pray that baby Stellan recover completely.


Maria

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

And The Winner Is....

Congratulations to Eric Peterson, he guessed the mystery gift! And since his family attends the same church our family does I will hand deliver his gift bag Sunday morning! Thanks to all that participated, it was fun. Maybe will do another contest soon!

Maria

HINT..

O.k. I have a few emails and 1 comment wanting to know who the mystery gift below is for so I'll give you a hint...it's for my Dad. That's all your get'n out of me! So guess away, and remember there is a prize! Just click on comment at the bottom of the post and leave your guess.

Maria

Contest!! Name That Gift!

NAME THAT GIFT!!

Every family has them let me give you the list:



1. "The box shaker" Definition: one who shakes Christmas gift uncontrollably to guess what it might be.



2. "The accidental bumper" Definition: one who "accidentally" bumps or slightly tares a gift to sneak a peek.



3. "The Guesser" Definition: One who continually guesses what may be in the box.



4. "The Shake and Listener" Definition: One who shakes and then puts gift to ear to listen for any sound the gift may produce.



Now for the worst one.....



5. "The Re rapper" Definition: One who opens gift while unsupervised and rerapps gift...shame!



I know you are smiling because you know one of these people OR you Are one!!



Above this post are pictures of a very unusual gift under my tree, thought I'd give you a little challenge and see if you could guess what that gift may be, the winner will receive a gift bag full of goodies from my salon (lots of good stuff!!). Just click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess I'll announce the winner Dec. 26th...(note if by chance someone guesses the same thing the FIRST poster with the right answer will be the winner)



Maria

Remembering

Tonight I am sharing a post that is very dear to my heart, a post about my family...I know across the miles I have family that read my blog and this post is for you...I have so many wonderful memories of Christmas, and it's funny that just last night I was reading a blog that one of my dear friends posted about trying to make memories for her children and as a Mother it can exhaust you and make you wonder if they will remember...I'll answer that question for her yes, we do remember, example: Mama Re's house 20 plus years ago anticipating the arrival of family the smell of coffee and turkey in the air, the hugs, games of rook, impatient children wanting to open gifts, and the sound of laughter throughout the whole house, the puppy(Buffy) we got Mama Re that was a holy terror and produced many more puppies through the years the smile she had on her face when she was with her family...yes we remember.
Example 2:Christmas afternoon the long anticipated ride to Pop and Grandma's house for Christmas the smell of chicken and dumplings and Jam cake, and the voice of my Grandmother as I climbed the steps I can still hear her say "Well look come'n here" and Pop chiming in "upon my honor, look who's here!" The waiting to see what my Aunt's and Uncles had sent my Grandparents through the Mail, and my Pop always shaking cards, cloths ect. to see if any money would float to the ground...yes we remember.
Across the road from my house is the home my Mama Re lived in, I drive my kids to the end of the road every morning to catch the school bus, and there we sit as we wait staring at the house that consumed my childhood once upon a time, so while we wait for the bus I tell my kids stories of how the whole driveway would be full of cars from all the family that would come for Christmas and of the Pine trees that once stood in the front yard that served as a play house to so many kids...and there are days that my kids get on the bus and I just stay, right there in my vehicle and think about all the memories that home still holds.
Just this year my Husband took the boys hunting "on the ridge" where my Pop and Grandma lived and which I shared with my kids that years ago ALL the Dover gang would come home during deer season to hunt it was nonstop camo and Aunt Carol's cooking with lots and lots of laughing...My Grandparents lived for those moments.
I put a video at the end of this post, some in the video aren't with us anymore...But I smile when I see there faces because I have so many great memories...Those faces put a lot of time into making mine and your life happy, they loved us like no other could they fixed scraped knees, taught us how to cook, kept every card we ever made them, took our late night phone calls when we needed to talk, taught us how to ride a bike and spent many night assembling toys Christmas Eve night to stand back and watch all the excitement Christmas morning, they spent many hours praying on our behalf unannounced to us, they loved us with an unconditional love. They're our family...and yes all they're time and effort in making memories for the ones they loved was a success!
Wishing all my family a Merry Christmas, I love you!

Maria

Family

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

JAM CAKE TIME!!

So it's that time of year again, and only at Christmas time...It's time for homemade Jam cake. This was actually started by my Grandmother, she always made a Jam cake at Christmas time for my Sister (Melissa) since her birthday is on Christmas Eve the Jam cake was her birthday cake. They were the best!! I never could get recipes out of my Grandma, she would say "well I never really measure anything, it's just a little of this and a little of that" After She passed away I found HER Jam Cake recipe written down on a aged yellow piece of paper in her hand writing with some of her recipe books...so once a year I get it out and try (notice I said try to recreate her famous Jam Cake, it is made from scratch and the icing is made from 2 cups of the batter with more sugar added and water added, you have to cook it on med heat and stir till it thickens...(just a side note to Mom I think I got it right this year!) Cassie wanted to try her hand at Jam Cake Making this year and I think we did a pretty good job! (at least Husband said so) I have a picture of Cassie with the cake, and I wanted to include a picture of my Grandma it was just a random picture I picked up to down load....I noticed after I downloaded it on the computer if you look over my grandmothers shoulder on the right there in plain view sets a Jam cake she had made for Christmas!! I never even noticed it until I looked at it on the computer...odd how things like that happen!

Jam Cake Time!!!

The Littlest Star

O.k. if you have been fallowing my blog lately you have noticed a lot of pictures and videos, we have had lots going on this past week and one of the biggest was our play at church, my daughter Cassie was in it. It wasn't the typicale Christmas play that most will attend this year, it was about the Littlest Star (played by our very own Anna Peterson) that God chose to announce the birth of our savior. I was so impressed with how well our children in the first scene did! They have made a DVD of the play and they also have books available for sale I will include in my next post the website you can go to and order them I encourage if you have children to order the book it is WONDERFUL and truly shares the meaning of the great arrival of our savior! Hope you enjoy the pictures and the video I have included!

Christmas Band Concert 2008..Meet Chase

So here is my middle sons big intro on the blog He is the "middle child" I never really knew what that meant until he became the "middle child" not meaning that in a bad way at all, he is my thoughtful softhearted kid, he is the one that is very quiet (most of the time) and it has taken him awhile to find his "niche" so the day he came home and announced he wanted to be in the band and play the trumpet I knew he had found his place....I will be honest the first few weeks of practing his trumpet was well...LOUD. But on the upside of things he is doing really well, and as I watched him in his very first concert today I saw something in him I haven't seen in awhile, confidence, he was smiles from ear to ear. As I watched him today I thought about how hard he had worked on learning his music and how much respect these little guys deserved they are doing something that takes talent and requires rhythm (which is saying a lot for my little white boy) So go ahead push the play button on the video below and listen, yes they have a few squeaks here and there, but they are a work in progress!

He says it best!

The school play

I have included a video at the bottom of this post the lighting isn't great but the pretty little girl with the baseball hat on singing is Cassie Marie our youngest in her School play she did for drama class, singing "It's lonely way out in left field" she gets her singing ability from her Nana. This was the first time she has sang infront of a crowd of people and I think she did a GREAT JOB!! We will be doing a play at our Church Tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday night called "The Littlest Star" Cassie is in it too and has a small solo I'll try to put a clip of it in sometime next week...Just wanted to share with you, enjoy!

Cassie Marie's Solo in the School Play

Romans 5:3-5

Sorry it's been awhile since I have posted, but things have been busy. Like so many others at this time of year lots of extra activity's going on Christmas plays at church and school band concerts Christmas shopping lots of busy going on around here and then a little stress mixed in with it all adds to chaos...Over the past year we have had lots of crazy, you know things that you pray and pray about and it seems like it has no end? So last week we had another "kick your feet out from under you weeks" and I had went to my room to pray (whine to God) about how ready I was for him to fix this situation and as I began to read my Bible he prompted me to go to Romans 5:3 this is what it says: Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

God really spoke to me that day about my attitude, he IS working in this situation I may not see it but he's there, and in the midst of it he is building my character (which can be painful sometimes:) and with that comes hope....which I think goes hand in hand with faith....which leads me to this, if every part of our life fell into place no problems, no bumps, no HELP ME LORD why would we need faith? Some things in life aren't easy, they are hard and we don't always see the big picture, but God is there, his plan is much better than ours, and while he sorts things out he uses the situation to build our character and give us hope...and in verse 5 it says "Hope does not disappoint us" So I have decided to trust God and let him have control, no more chaos and worry..I have added a video at the end of this post I actually found it on a friends blog she had posted...listen to the words it talks about surrendering, when Gods working in our life..let him work, trust him, listen to him..you may not see him but he's there and his plan is so much better than ours!

Just a few Questions...

I was just thinking today if other Moms have the same lingering thoughts...like what is it about the shaving cream that sits on the shelf in the shower? Does it speak to children when they get in the bathtub??? Because obviously all the cans of shaving cream I buy speak to my children to empty the can completely, before they exit the bath...and the soap somehow ends up with a name or some sort of drawing carved into it, that is if they are in a carving mood because some days it's a "lets make liqiud soap mood"..and the shampoo seems to hold a fascination with my daughter, like if you mix red shampoo and green shampoo you get blue shampoo. But since Mom didn't buy blue shampoo you should just go ahead and ditch the evidence and use it for a very large bubble bath....and for all the moms out there that didn't know our razors have dual purposes they work great for haircuts (I don't know his name we'll call him Fred) ..poor Fred..:(

Wanna Help?

I'll be honest I am new to the blog world but after my sister and I started reading a few of our friends blogs I was hooked...and thought I would try my hand at it....so now I admit it I'm hooked I love to blog, I love to put pictures of my family on here and share with the world and I love to read and reread my favorites that I have listed to the right of my blog...which brings me to the point of today's blog.....
I found the blog My Charming Kids blog early in my beginning blog days, and I have been following her blog since (click on her blog located to the right and take a peek it's great) Just this Monday (Dec.1st) she posted a challenge for people to donate to 3 different organizations for Christmas, which I will post about each organization at the end, in turn your name is entered and on Dec. 14 she will announce the winner of the name drawn, she is giving away a camera and many more prizes, which is out of her own pocket....this is the thing, she started this contest Dec. 1st it is the 3rd and in three short days she has already raised OVER 7 THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! Awesome!!!! So don't tell me that one blog doesn't make a difference, that's a lot of money people, so check out her blog and what one woman with a blog and a great idea is doing! It only takes one person with a purpose to make a difference! If you would like to donate I have added a button on the right of my blog click on it for more details

All proceeds of this Raffle-Way will be donated. Proceeds will go to String of Pearls, a beautiful ministry that offers a nurturing and safe place for families as they navigate the path following a fatal prenatal diagnosis that will result in the death of their baby prior to, or shortly after birth. String of Pearls provides guidance, compassion and practical suggestions as plans to honor the life of pre-born babies are crafted.Proceeds will also go to benefit No Hands But Ours. No Hands But Ours is a China adoption resource site, specific to special needs adoption. It was created to provide information, encouragement and support for families of the children who wait and for those who wait no more. It is their hope that God would use this organization to encourage and equip ordinary people to do an extraordinary thing in the life of a special needs orphan, to give the gift every child needs and deserves...a family.The Elison Project helps to provide grants to families adopting special needs children from China, and collaborates with No Hands But Ours. Proceeds of this Raffle-Way will allow families to make an incredible difference in the life of a child. Your donation will help to bring His children home.