Encourage your kids in 09

My uncle Ken is a pastor and he had this on his Facebook page and I thought I would share. It is great!

Prayerfully read this once a day to be sensitive to times you can share these with your kids. Let me know what kind of feedback/response you receive from your kid(s):
1. Yes.
2. How can I pray for you?
3. Will you forgive me?
4. God has a plan for you!
5. We are excited that you are growing up (entering a new stage of life)!
6. I know it hurts.
7. You are more important to me than . . . (you fill in the blank—report cards, work, sports, etc.). 8. I am so glad you are in our family.
9. I love you too much to let you do that.
10. Try to be patient with me. I've never been the parent of a (10,12,14,16) year-old before. (Caution: This only works with the firstborn! :)

I anticipate a greater bond between you and your children..I eagerly await how the Lord uses it in your home...Blessings! Ken

Happy New Year!!

Happy early 2009! Crazy huh. Can't believe it is 2009 already! Where has the time gone?.? Don't know. I put Livy to bed a couple of hours ago. We are watching all the New Years Eve stuff on t.v. It is 10 pm and we are go'n strong!


We are head'n to Springfield tomorrow. My Mom's side of the family is getting together at my uncle Ken and aunt Denise's house. A lot of my other aunts, uncles, and cousins will be there. I'm sure it will be lots of fun. After that we are head'n to Jason and Buffy's for some hot wing fun. Oh, how I heart hotwings. We will head back to our cozy home on Sat. I wanted to post a few pics of us over 2008. How our Olivia Grace has changed. She will be 2 in 22 days. Holy cow!

God has blessed us so very much this year. Probably one of the biggest blessings that our family has experienced is me getting to be a stay at home Mom. I remember this time last year John and I were crunching numbers and praying about this. It has been the greatest and I know John loves me being home with Livy. I pray that you and your family will experience God's goodness and grace in 2009. He is ALWAYS good! Happy New Year.

Clean Up

Goodbye lovely tree. I took down my tree and all the other stuff in our house today. I started at noon and ended with the putting away and cleaning around 5ish. Yah, a long time to clean I know. Craziness. Oh well it's done. I thought I'd better tackle it today that way I can have time with John while he's home for 5 days. We are talking about going to Jason and Buffy's for New Years. Buffy invited us and John and Jason want to make hotwings. I LOVE hotwings!!

We went to look at dishwashers after we came back from Birch Tree Monday afternoon. We have been talking about buying a new one for a while. Our dishwasher is crap. Seriously. Doesn't clean well at all. Plus I have to wash them before I put them in the dishwasher. I hate that. A dishwasher should wash your dishes period! Anyway we have been looking at a KitchenAid or a Whirlpool Gold. We looked at and got to test an Electrolux. They are amazing!! We could not even tell it was running. They are cool dishwashers, but we can't spend that kind of moolah.

Scary!

Glad we weren't home! My friend Kim called me today and told me about a robbery that happened a couple of days ago here in our "supposedly quiet neighborhood" of Arkansas Estates. The house was only 2 streets back. Doesn't make for a great night sleep..

Click HERE to read the article from the Baxter Bulletin.

Christmas News

We got back this evening from a lovely time with family. We went to Viburnum Christmas morning and spent a couple of days with with Moeckel's then on to Birch Tree Saturday to have Christmas with the Spencers. It was great to do nothing but lay around with the fam for 5 days. John and I enjoyed the laying around part lots and Livy had fun opening all her presents.

Christmas in Viburnum

This was funny. My nephew Alton was trying his hardest to fit in the box. Bless his heart.

Christmas with the Spencers

We had a great time, but we are SO glad to be home.

A Very Merry Christmas!

Good morning and Merry Christmas! We had a good time opening gifts this morning. I didn't post all the pics, but here's a few.

Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day

We have had a great day being together as a family and celebrating Christmas. We started out the day by laying around in our P.J.'s (sounds like a celebration to me!). Then we had a great Christmas lunch together. I made cornish hens, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, and rolls. It was super!

My hungry troopers.



Then after cleaning that up we all crashed for a while. Tonight we went to our Christmas Eve service at church. Had a great time of worship. Then we went to look at the lights in town. After getting home, we got a back in our jammies, again. I made cookies and popcorn. We watched some of Christmas stuff on T.V. Then we sat down as a family and John read the to us the birth of Jesus.


And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.
Luke 2:7-14


Remember the reason for the season, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!

All is calm, all is bright

We just got back from the Dr. today. Livy is good. Her "allergy related" asthma meds are working nicely. Doc says he will keep her on them for a while. Thank you Lord! Livy is taking an early nap. She crashed after all the running we did this morning.

Last night we had our friends Jason, Meredith, and Abby over to eat with us. Had a good visit. I love all our friends. God is sure good to give us such great friends. Today, I'm doing laundry and other stuff. Got supper working in the crock pot. We are having Reuben sandwiches tonight with potato soup. YUMMO! I got the Cornish hens out and stuck them in the frig. for our Christmas Eve supper tomorrow. I may dabble in some candy making tomorrow. I'm thinking turtles and cookies will be in order. John will be off for a week starting tomorrow so it will be great to have him home. He works two days next week so he will get more time off next week. We love the holiday time!!

In closing, I want to leave you with a wonderfully well put quote by Abby Chamberlin. My friend Meredith recorded her daughter making Christmas cookies and put it on her blog. She asked Abby what Christmas is about. Abby said....

"It's all about baby Jesus. Not about Santa, or presents, or snowmen, or snow. It's about baby Jesus. And the angel said fear not for I bring you good tidings of great joy."

It was so precious!! I LOVE it!! You go Abby!

We all remember some past December....

Last year was Livy's 1st Christmas. Which really is funny to me because she was almost 1 year old. This year she is so aware of "Christmas things" like, "pretty lights Mom". I love it! But it kinda makes me sad. She is growing so fast! She was such a little tooter!

She couldn't even walk last year. She was crusin' on everything. I loved her little pig tales. They stuck out. So cute!

Now look what a big girl she is! Her second Christmas. We can't wait! It will be fun!

It's amazing how 1 year goes by fast! She will be 2 years old Jan 22nd. Hey, that's one month from today!

Joy, Joy, Joy

Like my blog page? Yea! I love it! It has the "at home" look with the picket fence and all. I was tired of brown and pink. I made my logo on line. It's a bit off from the border but oh well..

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Who in the world left the freezer door open! It's freezing cold outside! Brrrrrrr!!

It's cold today, but we had a great service this morning at church. We brought our camera and had pictures taken today with all the pretty poisettas.

1/2 of Cooper made this shot.

Family and Friends Draw Near....

Love your pig tales my sweet.

We got home last night around 9:30ish. SDC was fun and Christmasy. Bethany's 1st birthday fun! She loved her cake and all her presents. She got cake all over herself and in her diaper. It was great! It was good to be with the family and see Buffy's family too.



Going..
Going..

Gone!Bath time for Bethany!

Tiny Tots With Their Eyes All A Glow...

Tonight we are headed for Branson. Yes, we have graced that magical place a few times already, but we like it! We are going to SDC again (yes again!). We want to take our tot back one last time before the Christmas season ends. We took her once in November and she really enjoyed it. She loves the pretty lights and the bugs, frogs, and elephants (those are her favorite rides). The wonder and joy in her eyes is priceless.

After we leave SDC tonight we are headed to Jason and Buffy's house to spend the night. Saturday is Bethany's 1st birthday. First b-days are a big deal. Can't believe it's been a year already! It's funny that Livy and Bethany are 1 year old together now (11 months apart, however not for long..) How time flies. Happy Birthday sweet little tot! We love you.

The Miracle Of Christmas

I read this today and thought it was wonderful! A little long but worth the read. Have a good day!

Four Special Gifts
17 Dec 2008Tracie Miles
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV)I love everything about the holiday season, and Christmas morning is no exception. As I watch my family members excitedly unwrap their gifts, I find myself truly understanding the meaning of the phrase, “It is better to give than to receive.” As much as I love giving gifts, I admit that I love receiving them too! I can’t help but be excited about a pretty box with a big bow with my name scribbled on the tag. Recently I began thinking about all the gifts that God gives me throughout the year, and then realized that I often forget to thank Him for those gifts. Our key verse today really wraps up the true meaning of Christmas. In this one little verse we are given four amazing gifts. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we got as excited about the gifts of God, as we do the gifts under our tree?The first of these gifts is love. God loves us more than we can imagine - more than we can love our children, our spouses, or our family. He loves us with a measure of love we cannot understand. For some, the holidays are a difficult time. They may bring feelings of loneliness and being unloved more than any other time of the year. Through this verse, we learn the magnitude of God’s love.The second gift is His son; His only begotten son Jesus Christ. God not only gave Jesus in birth to live as man, but to die as man as well. He gave the gift of Jesus’ life as our example, and the gift of payment for our sins through His death. He paid the ultimate penalty so that our slates are wiped clean in heaven.The third is the gift of faith. We can believe in Him – for life, for love, and for the power to overcome. Power to overcome even death. This gift requires trust, and helps us get through every day, every circumstance, and every period of trouble. It is a gift that offers a holy hand to hold and a holy shoulder to cry on. A gift that holds the answers of hope and joy.The fourth and most precious gift is the gift of eternal life. This gift promises a secure future: a life after death, free of pain and suffering. It is a gift we do not deserve, can never repay, and will not fully understand or appreciate until we are face to face with Jesus for eternity.If you handpicked a special gift for someone and they pushed it aside or discarded it, I imagine your feelings would be hurt, as would mine. I wonder how God feels when He gives mankind these four priceless gifts and so many choose not to accept them?As we celebrate the holidays, we’ll get excited about presents, even though eventually most of those gifts will be forgotten, broken, or discarded. But God’s gifts never expire, never spoil, never break, and never perish. The gifts of heavenly love, a Savior, faith and abundant eternal life are given to each one of us. We have the choice to unwrap and enjoy them or push them aside. God has four special gifts for you this holiday, and on the tag your name is written in red. Will you remember to unwrap these gifts this season? Dear Lord, Forgive me for taking for granted the amazing gifts that You have blessed me with in life, and for eternity. I praise You for who You are, and for being so willing to pour Your gifts into my life when I humbly reach out to You. Help me remember that You truly are the reason for this season. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:Do You Know Him?

Here We Come A Caroling

Last night during Team Kid at church we took the 4th-6th grade kids to Pine Lane Nursing Home to sing to the residents. Then afterward the kids decorated Christmas cookies and drank hot chocolate. The kiddos had a good time. John lead the kids in the songs. Good job sweetie!

My fourth grade girls! Their other teacher Mrs. Millie couldn't be there. Her husband Doug is still recovering from his heart attack. We miss you Millie!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Santa came to our house early.....I got a few things wrapped when Livy was down for her nap. I love nap time!!

We All Remember Some Past December...

...The years may change, but Christmas stays the same.

What a great song! Oh the memories. It reminds me of when my Mom, my brothers, my sis and I would make and decorate Christmas cookies then leave them for Santa. We always had the best time at Christmas. Today, Livy and I made Christmas cookies and then when John got home we decorated them together. We made a memory. Special.





Dear Santa,
I thought I would blog a picture of the cookies you probably won't get. We will make you another batch. However, I'll need to keep John out of them or you won't get any of those either.
Lora Moeckel

Immanuel, God Is With Us

I love the Proverbs 31 ministry website. It's really great for busy women and mom's. I was checking the site for the day and this was the devotional for the day. I can totally relate to the craziness and "mess" of the day. I'm sure a lot of you can relate too. I love it!! It was so great I thought I would share. Take a break from "the mess" and read it. It's great! Click below.

Sitting in the Middle of My Mess

I'm glad that God is personally with me through the mess of the day. He's good!

I Need A Silent Night

I love this song. It's an Amy Grant song from her Christmas Collection album. It talks about in the midst of the craziness of the holidays finding that peaceful time with Christ. That IS what Christmas is about, right. Just to give you a piece of what the song is about..the chorus goes like this.

"I need a silent night, a holy night,
to hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise,
I need a midnight clear,
a little peace right here,
to end this crazy day with silent night."

Good song. Livy is in bed. The house is quiet. Well.. John is watching football, but at least he's not yelling at the T.V. All I want is a dark room and my bed. Not real newsy. I was just thinking of that song.

Have a good, silent night.

Oh Tidings Of Comfort And Joy...

Comfort and joy...that's what kind of day we have been having. John went hunting this morning for a while and me and Liv just hung out around this house (all we have done lately..I love being home!) For lunch we had some lovely leftovers of taco soup and cheeseball. Lovely! Now, we ALL just woke up from our naps. I need to go make a pizza crust for our homemade pizza. I have a recipe that involves it rising for 1 hour. A bit long I know, but it's the BEST one I've found thus far. Plus I'm think'n that some dark chocolate sensation is in order too..That sounds like lots of comfort and joy to me!

Been a pretty good day round here. Still thankful for lots and God is good. Right now my brain is not in thinking mode, so lets just say that I'm really thankful for a lot.

Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time!

Good pic of all of the gals! Not a bad pic for making my own tri-pod out of a coffee cup and a box..anyway.. Last night was our women's Bible study/Christmas party. We had a good time. We did an ornament swap. In our orament swap game you open an ornament and if the some else likes the ornament it can be stollen up to 3x's then it's frozen and it's belongs to the third person. It can get intense! We had lots of fun!

Oh, I almost forgot! Yesterday was my little bro's 20th b-day! Happy Birthday! I'm a day late, sorry. Love you!

Joy To The World

Oh the joy of having a toddler a home. Livy is pretty joyful this morning (really, when is she not) We are doing our usual morning routine. Watch'n PBS (of course). They always have a lot of music and people singing these insanely happy kids songs. Liv is so hilarious! She can bust a move!! What is even funnier is that she is trying with all her might and laughing like crazy. Wish I had this on video. It's too funny. I love a joyful kid!

Another joyful thing that's gonna happen today is our women's Bible study group is having our annual ornament exchange/lots of snacky food/Bible study. It's always fun! I bought a super cute ornament at SDC when we went last weekend. All their ornaments were 50% off. YEA! Anyhoo... later this morning I'm going make two of my favorite holiday snackies to bring to the festivities tonight. I so LOVE a good cheeseball! I could eat it all day! However, if I did the results would not be pretty...(or lack of "results") I also LOVE chex party mix!! Click on my favorite snackies (the word) for the recipe. These bring joy to my holiday!