No Snow Day for Us but Maybe a White Christmas

When we went to bed last night we had high hopes of maybe waking up to some snow. Unfortunately it seemed to snow all around us. It was cold enough that we should have been compensated with a little fun - but we're holding out hopes in the fact that the Farmer's Almanac say it may snow Christmas! A white Christmas. Something that was always on my list as a child. Christmas would be perfect if it just snowed. I love to hear Bing Crosby sing this song. I even love the movie.

Merry Census/Missing Christmas - Part 1

The weeks just keep getting busier. Mandatory parent meetings for school related activities, extra choir rehearsal to prepare for the Christmas musical, along with everyday chaos and a "small" construction project yet to be finished.

Every year I tell myself that I'm not going to get caught up in the busyness of Christmas only to be disappointed later when it's almost over and I wonder where the time went. Am I only observing the season? I have good intentions of keeping my focus on the true meaning. Have I really stopped to reflect on why we even have this holiday?

What about that first Christmas. There are some amazing similarities about what happened then and what goes on in our world today.

For starters, Luke 2 tell us that there had been a decree issued that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. So everyone had to return to their own town to register. So there was going to be some traveling. Which brings us to the town of Bethlehem.

What was perhaps a quiet little town, it was now full of people everywhere. Busy people. People consumed with all kinds of things. Some things important, some not. There was family to see, old friends from the neighborhood to look up. There may have even been those set up at the city gate (tail-gating) just to see who came home. There was also money to be made with all of the out-of-town guests. Shops stocking up on their goods hoping to sell their treasures. I think it is safe to say this town was a-buzzing.

Now Joseph had to take Mary with him to go and register. They had travel about 70 miles. A long way when traveling by donkey express. They were exhausted. Don't know what kind of "traffic" they may have encountered along the way but I doubt that was nothing compared to being very pregnant and riding on a donkey. They set out to look for a place to stay.

The innkeeper was probably in high stress mode - preoccupied with taking care of his business. We don't know if he was rude, unconcern about Mary's condition or if he even knew she was pregnant. He was just busy.

Just like we sometimes get. We become consumed with activities. Things that keep us running the roads kind of busy. We've got shopping to do, Christmas banquets to attend, office parties, school activities, dance recitals, decking the halls, and the house and the yard, Christmas cards to mail, Christmas cards to read, cookies to bake, menus to plan, and on and on and on. All these things competing for our time.

Back to Joseph and Mary. They had no place to go. The baby's on the way. All they know is there's no room. They find a quiet little place. Not the best of surroundings, but a place to bring this precious baby into the world. I'm sure it's not what Mary had planned. She probably wanted her mother to be with her there to offer support. Perhaps Joseph being a carpenter had made a beautiful cradle for their child. But now she finds herself there in a barn about to have her first child, all by herself. I know Joseph was there, but let's face it she had to do most of it by herself. It wasn't what she had planned.

Sometimes my Christmas's don't always turn out like I hope they would. When the day is over and things have quieted down, and I'm sitting among the clutter of wrapping paper, boxes and ribbon did I miss it? Did I miss Christmas?

Dare to Wear

Bayou Belle had this idea to step out of our comfort zone, be brave. I cannot believe I'm doing this. I've been debating whether I had enough nerve to participate. I think I'm going to make myself crazy. Here goes. My dare to wear is something my husband bought me on ebay. I love boots - have a closet full to prove it, but these were a little loud for me. The leather is so soft and they are really pretty comfortable to walk in. He also purchase me some beautiful black leather pants. I saw Amy Grant on a Christmas special yesterday and she was sporting a great looking pair. We're in the same age bracket so maybe... But I think I'll keep the boots, what do you think?

Love this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

Their on their way home!!

My sweet babies are on their way home today. They have spent 8 days, EIGHT days away from their momma and I can't take another day. My children are blessed with such great grandparents who took them on a vacation of a lifetime! They spent Thanksgiving with Mickey and the gang. Thanks to high-tech blackberries my sister-n-law kept me updated daily with pictures. My husband and I couldn't swing the trip this year but we were so excited that the kids were invited to go with the rest of the family.

Some may think - a whole week without kids - awesome! That's not me. I have enjoyed the time my husband and I have had this past week. We had the opportunity to talk, have real conversation without interruptions and enjoy the quite at home. But late a night things just didn't seem quite right. My babies weren't home to tuck them in bed. Maybe I feel this way because my son's almost 16 and I see the writing on the wall way to soon. He's going to be leaving the nest soon (I know I still have a few years, but these past 15 have flown by and a few years will seem like a blink!). My daughter is growing up so fast - there's more pressure for girls to do that.

While they were gone I guess God was trying to teach me something. I heard a tremendous sermon one day about Hannah. She had prayed for a child and promised to give him back if God would answer her prayer. I only gave my children up for 8 days. She gave her son up at a very young age and it was for his lifetime. She only got to see him once year when she would visit the temple. Could I have done that!? A couple of other days I came across some devotions about ... Hannah. Hannah, Hannah Hannah!!

I'll admit I didn't care about Hannah, I didn't want to put my big girl pants on and "deal with it". I wasn't happy about having to let my kids be away from home, especially on a holiday, but God patiently and tenderly kept after me. He want me to know about Hannah, really understanding her story and the sacrifice she made and I told God - ok I get it. I can't hold on so tight and never allow them to live a life without me. I know that it meant a lot to the grandparents to spend this time with them. They know their getting older and they want to enjoy their grandkids as much as possible. So what did I really give up? A few days - not a lifetime.

Since I had so much time on my hands I spent a good bit of it on the computer. I came across this. It is a wonderful idea and this momma is a blessed woman to have such a thoughtful husband.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Disney or bust

I think the girls will bust before they get to Disney. The guide book gave us a count down to Disney tips. One of the things we were suppose to do was make our own Mickey Mouse ears. I think it came out pretty cute. The sign was just an added extra. We want to share the joy of our trip with those we zoom past on the highway... you know before we bust!

Fall into Flavor

It's week 4 for Fall into Flavor. I missed week 2 and 3 but wanted to contribute this week:

Here's one of our favorite snacks while watching the big game.




Mexican Cheese Crackers
1 box (14-1/2 oz) cheese crackers (the square ones work well)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place crackers in a large shallow baking pan. In a small bowl, combine butter, taco seasoning mix, Worcestershire, and salt. Pour butter mixtures over crackers, stir well. Bake 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Pour onto waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container. Yields: approx. 6 cups

Having lunch at school - embarrsing my kid

Alright, the weekend is finally here. Today is family picnic day with sweet baby girl. It's always fun and the kids are so happy that they don't have to eat cafeteria food! And they are actually happy that their parents come to have lunch with them. Unlike my high schooler who would die if I showed up to have lunch with him! I tried to trick him and his friends last week. I had to get some extra football tickets for the game and the secretary in the athletic office was on an early lunch. So I had to go to the school cafeteria to buy the tickets. Being the loving doting mother I am, I was so excited that I was going to get to see my baby at lunch. Unfortunately my timing wasn't perfect and they were already finished and getting ready to go to class. But if you could have seen their faces when I walked up. I told one of the boys I had come to have lunch with them and he almost choked. I acted really disappointed that they were not happy to see me. Of course my son tried to act like he didn't know me, like his friends don't know me!! Ha. Anyway it's fun to be a parent - most of the time.

100 years of football continues. Tonight we will honor players from the 1980's - my "era". Hope to see some old friends and their families. Cruisin' the Coast will wind down this weekend. I hope to get out and see some of those Ford Mustang and Chevy Camero cars that I "covet". Forgive me Lord - I am truly thankful for the Windstar mini-van!!

The Very Hungry Catipillars

So glad tomorrow's Friday. Baby girl home not feeling well today. Maybe I can catch up on domestic duties around the house in between lots of lovin' and nose blowing. Last evening we were out in the backyard, and discovered some of God's beautiful creatures having quite a party. We counted about 20 of them. You can see how much they have eaten already by the stripped branches in the background. What would Martha say?! This is not a good thing.

Fall into Flavor with Sweet Potato Casserole

Linda at 2nd cup of coffee shared a favorite comfort food recipe. Here is one of my family's favorite dish we serve during the holidays. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and put in casserole dish.

Topping:
1/3 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

Mix topping together. This will be crumbly. If you think topping is too dry, you may add more melted butter. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.


Bake at 350 degrees 20 to 30 minutes until topping is brown.

So yummy and sweet you might think it's dessert!

100 Years of Friday Night Football

***UPDATE**
We won!!! What a great football game. Exciting nail-biter down to the last 8 seconds of the game. Woo-Hoo. It was great to see my brother and his teammates together again. Some had not be "home" since graduation. A few travel between 3-7 hours just to come for the game.
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It's beginning to feel like true Fall weather around here. I love the crisp air earlier in the morning. I love to open my windows and air out the house. It smells so clean and fresh Tonight it's Friday night football. This year our town is celebrating 100 years of football and tonight they will honor past players from the 1970s. My oldest brother will be out on the gridiron once again. I remember growing up how much he loved football. Lonnie ate, breathed and slept football. He wanted me to love it too. He tried to explain to me once what those X's and O's meant as he studied his play book. I tried to seem really interested but wanted to play tic tac toe with the X's and O's instead. He wasn't the biggest player on the team, but he had the biggest desire to be out there. He never broke curfew on Thursday nights. The coach would call to make sure his players were in early and getting rest before the game on Friday. He had to personally speak to them to make sure the parents weren't covering for them. They had so much pride in their team and school. He didn't play in college, but has continued through the years to stay involved with sports as a volunteer coach. He gave everything he had to teaching those kids discipline and fundamentals.

He's a little older now and had to give it up do to bad knees, but he makes a great armchair quarterback on the weekends. Now days he supports the team on Friday nights and he gets to see his old coach. I'm sure they still talk about the good old days. My family will be on the sidelines again cheering him on as we shout out their class moto" "GHS mighty are we, we're the class of '73!" Go Commodores!!!

Are you a slugabed?

Today's word of the day: slugabed \SLUHG-uh-bed\, noun: One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard.

Just this morning my sweet hubby asked me if I was getting enough sleep. Let me give you a little background here... See we've been married now for 23 years and he knows my sleep habits well. When we were first married I longed to sleep in until noon on Saturday while he was up early ready to go enjoy the weekend. He didn't quite understand that I was enjoying my weekend - sleeping. When I was growing up, my brothers used to have to drag me out of bed on Christmas morning. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't wait to see what Santa left me, but why did I have to get up at 5am?! I loved to sleep till at least noon- 1pm on the weekends when I was a teenager. I stayed up on Friday night to watch The Midnight Special (yes I am dating myself here) which didn't come on until - well Midnight. So I was up late which justified me sleeping late. Right? This drove my parents crazy.

But that's not the way things are now. I am actually waking up before the alarm goes off. I explained to my hubby that I wake up and can't fall back asleep so I get up. He started to laugh and I knew where he was going next. He said he remembered when I would set the alarm about 20 minutes before I had to get up just so I could hit the snooze button a few times before I actually got up. Come on now, I know there are those of you out there who have done this. I even know there are those of you (and me) who have set our clocks in the car 10 to 15 minutes fast just so we would not be late for work or church or where ever else we had to be. I told him, "Well I guess I'm just getting old. I can't lay in the bed all day anymore. Or maybe I've finally grown up."

Whatever the reason I have found this to be one of my favorite times of the day. I actually enjoy seeing the sun come up as I look out in my backyard. The house is quiet and still. There is no ESPN or Hannah Montana on the TV. I start my coffee and look out my kitchen window to see the mockingbirds. If you have not heard one of these birds in the morning outside your bedroom window, count your blessings. They are obnoxiously loud. Anyway, this is one of the sweet little gifts God has given me lately - the quiet time, not the mockingbirds. Uninterrupted quiet time. Time for me to just be say "Good Morning Lord".

So are you a slugabed?

Where's Jim?

It's Monday morning, Labor Day 2008. Weatherman Jim Cantore is in Houma, LA. This means the storm is not coming here. Early this week, rumors where floating around that Jim was in town. Those of us who live on the Coast know if Jim's in town, it's not because he's enjoying the eye candy on the beach. He's on the job. In several cases hurricanes have been known to hook a turn to the east in the last few hours before coming inland. This would have put us receiving the worst of the storm.


The winds are very gusty here. It's raining sideways. Funny thing, I see birds occasionally flying around. This gives me hope it's not going to get too bad. Even the birds have enough since to take cover if the weather's going to get rough. Hopefully we will not loose power. We've made the necessary preparation - batteries, water, candles, peanut butter, etc., oh and diet Coke for the man of the house - to get by for a few days. Looks like this storm will make just enough of a mess in the yard for the children to spend their extra day off tomorrow from school. Here's a picture from a few years ago, the children were cleaning up the mess from another storm.

Uninvited Guest for Labor Day

Well we have been watching the weather channel over the past few days. Looks like we may have an uninvited guest to our Labor Day holiday. His name is Gustav. He's a tropical storm but may grow into a hurricane in the next day or two. He's near Jamaica and could be in the Gulf by the weekend.
The panic mode as already kicked in. Some of the shelves at the stores are empty. We still have several days to prepare so things should be restocked before the storm hits. Unfortunately, some who live in that panic mode tend to take more than they need and those of us who wait until the last minute are left with the AAA batteries - the ones that work the remote, not that the cable will be on once the wind picks up. Anyway, we've decided to ride this one out. Good luck to those who are getting the heck out of Dodge. Drive safe. Have patience in the traffic. Enjoy your "vacation". We'll hold down the fort here at home.

Fill-n-Friday

1. Dancing to Journey's greatest hits while cleaning house makes me think of good times in high school.

2. The last time I rode a bike I nearly ran out of gas. I'm out of practice!

3. When I drive I like to sing along to High School Musical with my daughter.

4. I saw a turtle standing on his hind legs "communicating" with another turtle in the front yard. That made for an interesting conversation on the way to school.

5. Give me football players, give me cheerleaders, give me the band. It's high school football season!

6. Next week I am looking forward to celebrating my husband's birthday.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to movie night, tomorrow my plans include a yard sale and birthday party and Sunday, I want to go to church!

Rainy Days on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...

Today is Friday - an end to the first full week of school. It rained Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, no it poured Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday. This makes the drop off and pick up times very trying. When I dropped off at the high school on Monday part of the parking lot was under water - meaning no parking for about 50 cars. Throw in the new licensed drivers who are so excited to be driving themselves to school and you have a recipe for disaster. Luckily, I was not involved in any disasters. This week has also been a sad on. I lost two friends who were both buried on Monday. My dear sweet neighbor Mrs. Lewis passed away last week. She was 86. I enjoyed sitting on her back patio visiting with her while she was soaking in her vitamin D for the day. She has such a great family and we have had the pleasure of spending a few 4th of July holidays together in our backyards with her son and his children and grandchildren. We will miss her. The other family is a classmate from high school. Donna was one of those girls that you wanted to be your friend. She had such a sweet personality. She was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer back in March/April. Her high school sweetheart who she has been married to for about 27 years tried to move heaven and earth to get her the best treatment in an effort to beat this disease. God had other plans for them. Donna's husband Cap was able to keep the family and friends posted through a CarePage network. Everyday I was drawn to read the updates as her family and friends all over the country were praying for them. This wonderful man of God unashamedly share his heart for the world to read. There were numerous accounts of things that happened that could not be explained other than it was a God at work. So many people were touched by the things Cap shared, all the while reminding us that they wanted God to be glorified throughout this season in their life. I know these two friends are in presence of God and I look forward to seeing them both again someday.

Summer's Over - School's Back On!

Outside the Aquarium in New Orleans

Summer vacation is over and the kids are back in school. Although we didn't have a "real" vacation. We did get to go to New Orleans last week with the children's group from church. We saw a 3-D movie on Bugs. Mandy saw very little, since she cover her eyes through most of it. The aquarium was spectacular. I don't think I ever get tired of going there. To be that close to some of the largest fish and watch them is so facinating to me. OK the nerds coming out. Let's move on. Now that school back in session my goal is to keep this blog up-to-date. So here's what went on today: First day of school was great for Jake & Mandy. 2nd grade is gonna be awesome. Mrs. L. has a room that is cuter than cute! She is very talented and has set up her classroom to be the place to be! 10th grade may prove to be a little more of a challenge with A & P and Spanish this fall. Since we've moved up a grade, we had to move our drop off and pick up line to a busier area. Waiting for the bell to ring today took much longer than I would have liked, probably because it was so hot and no shade to park in on O'Bryan. Allowing the high schooler to ride home with friends is nice. One less errand to run. Although I have mixed feelings about entering this season of teenage driving. Well we have one more day for this week, enjoy a short weekend packed with a birthday party and 2nd Sunday fellowship. We are also having a ground breaking Sunday night for our new sanctuary. I'm sure we'll hit the ground running on Monday.

Where have I been?

I looked at the last time I posted. Where does the time go? I'll blame it on baseball and ballet. We have been on the go since baseball season started in early Feb. Recital time is fast approaching and as if we didn't have enough games at the high school, we have the younger leagues starting - girls t-ball and softball, Mandy' s "friend-boys" playing coach pitch. It was fun going to opening day last Saturday, brought back a lot of memories when we were there with Jake.

Well as I finish this post (a few weeks later) the team is in the first round of playoffs for South State. Mandy and I stayed behind to "spring clean" the girl scout hut and other social obigations - "Friend-boy #1 and #2" were playing each other in a rematch. Dad and Papa went to see the games today - possibility our freshmen pitchers (including my baby) might get to see some action today. We have to win two to make it to the next round.

I am going to commit to being a better blogger - keeping things up-to-date for my sake as well as anyone who wants to keep up with us. I'm still learning the ropes here and hope to improve on posting some pictures. I still have some work to do in setting up my page, I tried to change a few things and lost alot of my links. But today is going to be a beautiful spring day in my corner of the world so I'm going out to enjoy the beautiful world God's has provided for us and I'll let you know how the playoffs went.

My little cowboy's 15!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Love, Mom, Dad and Mandy and Trigger

See pictures below

Ok, I'm still new at the posting thing. The pictures below are from the Nutcracker Ballet. Mandy was one of the mice. They were adorable. Some of the pictures are from backstage. The girls were wonderful, they adapted well to the "backstage life" - just listening to some music, eating, play video games, eating, taking pictures, eating....