DAY 1: THE NATIVITY STORY

December 1st marks the first day of our ADVENT ACTIVITIES.

Last year, I made an Advent Poster board using "doors" & "windows" that I cut out from magazines (got the idea from FamilyFun Magazine, but tweaked it by adding doors to make it look more "homey").



This year, while browsing all of the craft web-sites (eighteen25), I came across a site that had snowflakes on the banister rails. Again, I tweaked it & came up with this:



Individual snowflakes with a number on it. I tried to write ONE WORD across the number, but as I'm a lover of English & words, couldn't think of just one word to best describe each day. So instead, LATE LAST NIGHT, I stayed up making cards for the kids. Each day, below the snowflakes on the fireplace, I put a card down. On the outside I drew a picture & on the inside wrote the days activities. I can save these for next year, but not adding a number. Last year, Papaw Tollett died just days before CHRISTmas & in my haste to see him one last time, I didn't grab my calender. I had the ideas on my website, but not all the things that went with the activities (i.e. Jingle Bowling). So this year, I can place whatever card I want down for the day & I'm not tied down to anything ... except the FIRST DAY (which is always read the story of Christ) and Christmas Eve/Day.

I'm very excited about this & the first day was a hit. Grace does the ODD days & Sean the even (turning over the snowflakes & reading the card).

DAY 1: THE NATIVITY STORY

Read the account in Matthew & Luke of the birth of Jesus Christ
Watch THE NATIVITY
Make HAYSTACKS & enjoy!

We've made the HAYSTACKS ... just need to watch the movie next. Usually, the day should start with the reading of the Bible, but J is at work & I wanted him to be the one to read it ... so before bed tonight while we do our prayer book, J will read!

It really is "the most wonderful time of the year!"

I SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR

I was supposed to go to an impromptu dinner last nite with the girls from work, but as I've not been feeling well this week, we cancelled.

John got a call from Bro. Cameron around 5pm. He had 2 tickets to the baseball game & wondered if John & Sean would like to go. Both were THRILLED, to say the least!

I told Grace that since she wasn't getting to do anything special, that instead of dropping her off at FNO Friday, we would drop off Sean & take her to dinner with us.

Grace & I didn't do a whole lot while the boys were away. Played a little SWEET STREETS, watched Super Nanny on TV, & bed. I tucked her in, read her "GOD GAVE US TWO" from Nana & Papa, prayed, & sang to her. I kissed her goodnight & she ASSURED me that she wouldn't call for me like she normally does every night. I turned off the lights & headed back to the living room.

As I was answering my e-mails & checking FACEBOOK, I saw her tiny figure standing in the doorway of her room. She had tears in her eyes. I pulled her close & asked what was wrong.

"I want to hear God's voice. How do I do that?"

"You ask Jesus into your heart," I began. We talked for a few minutes about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins & what all that means. As we were talking, the boys returned home. I continued to talk, while I ushered Sean to his room. John pulled up a chair & listened.

We talked for several minutes & asked her questions. Questions I know that she knows the answers to, but wanted confirmed in her actions. Peace swept across her face as she told John, "I'm ready".

We grabbed Sean & made our way to the couch. "I don't know what to say," she told John. "Do you want me to help you?" She nodded. "Grace, I can't pray for you, but I can give you the words to say if you mean them." It was beautiful to watch. John spoke, as Grace repeated his words. He choked up several times. And she powered on!

I was thrilled to be apart of this, but even more happy that her Daddy (seeing as she is very much a Daddy's girl) was able to lead her. I prayed with Sean just 2 weeks after his 6th birthday (again, very fitting as he is a Momma's boy). I was glad that I was a part of this spectacular event ... but even more thrilled that John was able to pray with her.

Papaw Tollett died just 4 months ago. CHRISTMAS. Oh, how I have missed him. But I am actually glad that he was in Heaven during this time ... so he could witness this for himself! John & Mom both told Grace that the Angels are rejoicing for her decision. I can't help but think that Papaw is rejoicing, also. I believe that this was a dream of his: to leave such a powerful legacy to his children! Because of that man's faithfulness & ministry for the Lord, not only his children, but his grandchildren & great-grandchildren will spend Eternity with their Heavenly Father ... their creator & redeemer.

I SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR HE'S IN THIS WORLD TODAY ... I SEE HIS HAND OF MERCY, I HEAR HIS VOICE OF CHEER ... HE LIVES! HE LIVES! CHRIST JESUS LIVES TODAY. HE WALKS WITH ME & TALKS WITH ME, ALONG LIFE'S NARROW WAY. HE LIVES! HE LIVES! SALVATION TO IMPART. YOU ASK ME HOW I KNOW HE LIVES, HE LIVES WITH IN [GRACE'S] HEART

I know this, b/c I see the peace that came across Grace's face last nite. I asked mom, "is it possible that she looks different to me?" And mom said, "does she?" "Yes," I said. "She looks so peaceful & free." WHAT A JOY! WHAT A BLESSING! What an answer to prayer.

A YEAR OF PROMISES

At the beginning of January, we had our KDO meeting. It was alright. No big. Back to the grind was what I figured I'd walk away with. And that was it ... until our Preschool Minister, Ms. Gina, came in to talk with us. She said something that really spoke to me. Each year, she & her family PRAY A WORD. In the past, they have prayed each week as a family for FAITH or HOPE or PEACE. This year, they have decided on VICTORY. Every time they pray, they pray for VICTORY as CHRISTIANS and look for those VICTORIES in their everyday lives. I thought to myself, "what a great idea! I should do this." Then she prayed with us and I was praying, "Lord, what WORD do you want me to hold on to?" and immediately God answered me: PROMISES! The word came to mind and at the very same moment, Gina was praying for God's PROMISES to come true ... I knew it was what the Lord wanted me to pray for. He was telling me that He has granted me so many promises already and that there were so many more to come! And I started thinking of PROMISES in the Bible that he has already fulfilled.

As many of you FACEBOOKERS know, we were outta money in January and could not pay rent. We had no idea where the money was going to come from, but we just truly prayed over it. I knew that the Lord was telling me, "I've promised to always take care of you, haven't I? I've never let you down before." I was reminded of the week before in Gina's presence, praying for PROMISES. So while J went to talk to our Landlord, Mr. Robinson, I sat down with my Bible and just prayed. Here is what I came up with:

God led me, of course, to my favorite passage:
JEREMIAH 29:11-13 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope & a future. Then you will call on me and pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

I opened my Bible up and found this: 2 SAMUEL 7:1-17, while I was looking for Psalm 23 (the reason I couldn't find Psalm 23, because the Bible I use is a CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLE, so it's tough to find stuff) and the passage was on Promises. It was amazing!

I'll post more later on what I discovered that very first day ... but John returned home 1 hour later with a piece of paper. I was afraid it was an eviction notice. And God whispered to me, "PROMISES". Mr. Robinson had told J that he considered J one of his own kids (they've known each other almost all of J's life and he's the same age as Mr. Robinson's daughters). He told J that he was "floating" us the $650 this month and we'd pay him little by little (which he later told us wasn't due until our refund comes in). He gave J & I assignments:
1. new budget
2. look for more hours at our jobs
3. keep him in the loop

It has been very beneficial for us to make a new budget and things are going very well! God has promised to take care of us ... just as He has taken care of David, Abraham, Noah, Hannah ...

I've dropped the ball over the last few months, not praying so much for promises, but praying that God will get me out of sticky situations, but I do know that He promises to take care of us no matter what. I'm counting on that! J is not liking his job right now and really struggling with it. I'm finding myself looking for answers once again and reminded of the day, in January, when God said He will be with us, that He will take care of us ... that He is FAITHFUL to fulfill HIS PROMISES to us: never to harm us, but to always give us HOPE!

So if you get the chance, help me think of people in the Bible that God made promises to, that I can study and claim as my own! GOD IS A GOD OF FULFILLING PROMISES and I'm so glad to be called one of His OWN!

LETS FACE IT ... I'M NOTHING LIKE MY MOTHER!

Grace has been sick for the last two days. *blek* I hate it when one of my little ones is sick ... especially pitiful Grace. Unfortunately, she is built like me. I get sick (the flu & sinus infections) about twice a year. Sean, however, is built like his daddy. He rarely gets sick. Maybe once every 3 years. Of course, there was this one year, when the kids were little, that all 4 of us were sick at the same time ... and we only had 1 bathroom. It was aweful.

I try to be like my mom ... I really do. She is an awesome mom. She always loved on me when I was feeling down, disciplined me when I needed it, and came to my rescue even as an adult. But when it came to being sick, she wasn't the best. She always told me: I'll give you 24 hours of sympathy. After that, you are on your own. So I've tried to do better than that. I've tried to strive for that 25 hour mark. NO LUCK. After about 8 hours of constantly throwing up (she literally threw up over 20 times ... I lost count after 21 trips to the trash can), I had had enough. She was whiny and jirating all over the place, making me think she was going to throw up every 10 seconds. She slept during the day and was wide awake during the night! She threw up all over the couch & the floor & I was none too happy with her. I tried to be sweet, but I had just asked her if she was going to throw up and she said, "I don't know". I shoulda known that meant it was coming as soon as I sat down. It always does! I didn't last too long. I held her hair back when she puked; I followed her to the potty every 30 minutes and held a bucket under her chin, just in case; I forbid her from eating pizza, PB&J sammies, Dr. Pepper (which she never gets anyways, but thought since she was sick, she'd still ask and hope for the best) and drinking milk. I did the best that I could. But my mom always took care of me. ALWAYS. Come to think of it, she usually lasted over the 24 hours mark. Me? Not so much...but I tried.

I'm a lot like my mom in so many ways ... but when it comes to being sympathatic to ones plight of sickness, I'm built like my dad. He runs for the hills and hollers across the house, "ARE YOU DONE YET?" Yep, that's me! I asked Grace, "when Mommy gets sick, are you going to take care of me like I took care of you" and her response, "maybe. we'll see. I'll feed you though".

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

I love this time of the year. The leaves changing, the weather cooling down, it finally being ok for you to have Christmas lights up! It just feels so good to me.

Things have finally settled down here.

I had planned on taking a year off from teaching, seeing as my pregnancies are so hard and my mom was sick. After losing the baby, I stayed at home for about 2 months. And I started to miss work and church. I couldn't have been more thrilled when my boss called me and asked me to come back. THRILLED! I love it. And this month, Jodi & I received the OCTOBER TEACHER TEAM. YEAH, US!

I received a raise at work (WOO HOO). J received a raise at work (BIGGER WOO HOO). He finally earned his vacation days, which was helpful, as he had to use 1 day right after they were granted to him, so he could go with me to take G to get an absessed tooth pulled! YUCK!

Last week was tough, tho. An aquantance of mine died in a tragic car accident. It was very had not being able to hug those that I knew were hurting (like Rachel) or to hug those that I knew would comfort me (like my mom). But it truly is a blessing that Rachel's mom is now working at our church, for one of the pastors. I was able to go up and get a hug from her ... and I don't know if Ms. Debbie will ever know how much I appreciated that! It was like getting a hug from my mom & Rach all in ONE! My two favorite women. I needed that, and I'm glad that our church provided me the ability to go visit her!

Church has been good for us. It has opened up the conversation lines for J & myself. We have had many discussion about our Christianity and faith and future! It's been amazing. And after 2 years, we finally feel like we have found our "FIT" in the church. We love our new CONNECTION GROUP. We are with people our age, who have kids our kid's ages, and have similar interest (and J's best friend, Jim is coming, too...what an answer to prayer). God is really working in our lives! I am seeing things now that I never saw, with a father who was the Minister of Music & attending a private BAPTIST college, majoring in Religious Education (emphasis on Children's ministry) and minoring in music; and J is discovering a more personal relationship than he ever had as the son of the Pastor! We are growing. We are growing TOGETHER. We are growing as a family and passing it along to our children. It is such a blessing to be a part of church that has our hearts (for our children and for us) interest! TRULY A BLESSING!

TIME DOES NOT FLY WHEN YOU ARE NOT HAVING FUN!

I can't believe that it's been nearly 4 months since I started this. It's been crazy at my house and I haven't had much time to write, or even stop by my friends sites.

So to update you:

My mom was diagnosed with MULTIPLE MYELOMA, which is Cancer of the plasma cells. That has been really tough for me to stomach. I went down a few weeks ago to help take care of her, but J & the kids weren't able to go (she has to be in a fairly "germ-free" environment), so it was hard being so alone there. My sister does live next door to them, so that was nice to go over there every once in a while and "get away". Her first set of chemo didn't take. They are now trying a more "aggressive" chemo, which makes her tired and sick. Not as sick as the cancer, but still sick and anxious. I'm having to get used to her personality change. She is such a Godly woman, that to see her in pain and suffering is really sad!

I had a miscarriage 4 weeks ago. You know that verse in Bible, "God will not give you more than you can handle" (somewhere in 1 Cor. I believe)? I'm starting to wonder. This came just 6 weeks after receiving the cancer diagnosis from my mom. It has been tough and scary and trying...but I'm finally seeing the light! I think...

Financially we are strapped and we haven't spoken to my in-laws in 6 months. Things are just so slow around here and stressful. But I'm seeing that God is getting us thru. J went to work yesterday, feeling the presence of the Lord with him all day. The only presence I felt, were my kids...but that is because I'm not open like I should be. I've just picked up my Beth Moore Study on David again. It's good. I can stomach David better than I can Job (which was our lesson in Sunday School this weekend). I love David. I always have...he just understands me, or I understand him. Whichever, when I read him, I don't feel so alone!

BLOGGING

I'm really not sure why I decided to do this! I already have a blog with xanga, but this seemed a bit more "mature" ... guess we'll see!

I have nothing exciting to write about. I'm tired and dreading taking my 4 y/o to a BALLET birthday party. Not that I think it won't be fun, but because it's at 10am till noon. I just want to sleep in, People! But I know that she will enjoy it. And the good news is that J doesn't have to work tomorrow (that is my wonderful husband of 6 years...we've actually been married for nearly 8, but the first 2 were so rocky, we won't consider EITHER of us "wonderful"). Since he doesn't hafta work, that means he can stay home with our eldest and watch cartoons till their brains drain out of the ears! That will be a fun mess to come home to, don't you think?!

Hopefully blogging on here will be different than my xanga. I tend to be whiney & complainy on there. All of those people know and have known me for years. Maybe I can be HAPPY and CHIPPER here...who knows! Maybe stars will shoot out of my ears & eyeballs (let's hope those are the only places, or we'll have more than just brains to clean up tomorrow!).

I guess I'm in a weird mood, b/c we just watched A DEATH AT A FUNERAL on PPV. It was HILARIOUS, but something about that British comedy puts me in a strange mood. And I guess it could be the month old CREAM SHERRY and CONCORD WINE that I drained right after supper. mmm. mmm. GOOD! I got it when my SIL & Tara went to the STONE HILL WINERY in Branson last month. The sherry has aged a bit and breathed. It isn't so POTENT as it was when we first opened the bottle. It's very good. We're gonna hafta go back there and get some more, I think! Any takers???

I should prol'y head off to bed ... except, J is playing FABEL on the 360, so he wants me to stay alert and watch the clock, so we can watch the SOUP on E! at 11:30. Not sure that me OR the sherry will last that long...