And You Thought Christmas Was Over....

 I noticed there are a lot of Christmas carol lines that I could really use ALL year round....not just at Christmas


Little Drummer Boy-


"Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,


Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?"




I love this because it is a good reminder that Jesus came into this world in a STABLE...have you ever been in a stable? Not exactly sanitary. Also He was poor and never had any earthly riches. He was born that way and continued on in His life on earth that way. The song just reminds me that I can play,sing,do,say and be all my best for Him.


O Come O Come, Emmanuel-


O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.


I love this...the song starts by reminding us that we live in a broken world and until the arrival of Christ we were exiled for God. I have been so aware of just how broken our world is. We are expected to live in a world where materialism is everthing, but we are supposed to live like it isn't.


God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen-


To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy


And then the good news...yes we live in a broken world but there is a way out! Christ came to save us from our own damnation.


And my fav...Oh Holy Night-


O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;


This song is amazing. Do you ever feel weary? or just worthless...I love the way it talks about finding new worth and rejoicing after feeling for down. Christ has made us complete and loveable. He gives us worth that we can't find anywhere, because He loves us unconditionally and He makes us beautiful. He never fails and is always faithful...even the person we love the most here on earth will do that once, but He never does.


2012 is just around the corner...I have no idea what is going to happen this year, I have no vision of things to come. I don't know if we will even be living in our current home. BUT I do know that God is faithful and He is good even in our broken-ness. That is what I am going to hold onto through the whole year.

This Christmas

This Christmas has been tough. Well this whole year has been tough.  From the miscarriage to Jamie losing his job to an awful few months of being pregger and everything in between. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot to be thankful for. My girls are all healthy, we currently have a roof over our head with water and gas and electricity. I have an amazing husband and we both have such a great understanding of each other and the outside problems. I have salvation and prayer and those are things that can never be taken from us. I am thankful...and I do not doubt God's goodness or Faithfullness. He is so good to us, but things are still hard and sometimes I am just ready to move on from this point in time. BUT God has allowed us to be here and in this situation. We have done all we can to move forward (looking for assistance, selling stuff, etc) and He just keeps us right here where we are. All I can do is give it all to Him and let Him take us where He wants us to be. It still makes it hard though.

ANYWAY I feel like I am just rambling around in circles. This song makes me feel good. Just thought I would share it. HOWEVER I do have a disclaimer, he says in the bridge "Your higher power may be God or Jesus Christ, it doesnt matter much to me. Without each others help there is no hope for us..." We do have hope. Jesus is our hope and no matter what bad things we go through, no matter what hardships we face, no matter who leaves our side or betrays us, Jesus is always there and He ALWAYS loves us, no matter what has been done to us or no matter what we do.  With that being said I hope you enjoy my favorite song frm Mr. Osbourne :)

For Christmas...

WELL my hubby was so awesome this year and bought me some smelly good stuff and cute knit brown boots and a lil stuffed Bobba Fett (who sits near my bed...for those of you who don't know I am a HUGE Fett fan) His dad got me some colts attire and socks and a cute little sign to hang in my home. I received a knit hat and scarf, a messenger bag made of burlap, beauty and the beast,and some awesome pj's from some of my friends. An amazing meal with friends, some time with family, catching up with persons that we just had not seen in forever. It was a great day. But I realized something very important. Life has so many seasons (as I talked about in a previous post) and you just never know when one season will start and end. Friendships, homes, jobs, pets, they all have seasons. I found myself missing a very hard season in our life that turned into a major blessing. When we lived in Illinois I thought it was going to be horrible and I remember being so sad when the holidays were approaching. We were so poor and felt so alone. People took us in though, and loved us. People made us part of their families and circle of friends without hesitation. Now when I look around I am surrounded by people I have known for most of my life and by family and familiarity, but there is this piece of me that aches for the people who took us in and loved us regardless of us being practically strangers. They, in a sense, are as much family as our real family...because they had no obligation to be there for us. I appreciate them now as much as I ever did...and just really wish they knew my gratitude. (I don't think I can even put it in words) I hope that if the situation is ever presented to me, that I will take people in as well and be there for them unconditionally...just like Christ has done for all of us. Takes us in, doesn't ask questions, and loves us. Those people during those hard times, they were Christ to us. The real meaning of Christmas. I guess I am just saying that you should always embrace the season you are in, even if it seems tough or weird or awkward or endless...because you will look back on it one day and see how strong it made you and how far you have come...and you may even find yourself missing it.

Not so much a fail...

The first time I heard TobyMac's "Christmas this Year"...I was like...uhm fail.

But...I have heard it like three or four times since then...and I am starting to love it. I have no idea why. The bridge really gets me...like chills. I don't know what happened but I do love it and wanted to share it. Let me know what you think?

Christmas is so in the air!

I love Christmas time. It is so fantastic. Just want to hug everyone : )

I especially love Christmas shopping. It is my fav thing to do and just being in the "hustle and bustle" and all scarved and mittened up...there is just a certain romance about it that I get a thrill out of every year.

Well if you are a regular guest to my blog, you know that we are not exactly in the best financial situations here lately. SO I have been thinking extra hard and long about gifts this year. SO here is what I am doing to keep the spirit of giving in our situation,

There are so many people we wanted to buy for this year but had to keep it pretty low budget and ended up having to leave a lot of people out. HOWEVER some of the best gifts are pictures. Even if you dont frame them you can make someone very happy with the gift of a picture. Snapfish and my Coke Rewards have made that super easy for us this year! Snapfish gives you 20 free pictures when you sign up and my coke rewards gives you coupon codes for snapfish all the time.

Christmas cards are also something we are spreading around. I made home made one this year with peices of ribbon, scrapbooking pages, glitter and markers....pictures to come later : )

Instead of picking an "amount" to spend on people, this year we are going by value. If you find something on super duper clearance...OWN IT! and then...give it away : ) Also we are not to proud to give away lightly used things from second hand stores and thrift shops. Recycle people, that can be your gift to God's green earth for Christmas.

And the last thing I have been thinking of....

My eyes have been opened to what Christmas should be. Of course I want my kids to have a nice Christmas, but I dont want to teach them that gifts are the only thing that matters. We will be giving our children things they want as well as things they need. (Maybe underwear or socks or even new toothbrushes) also I think when the kids get older they will have to pick out toys to donate to toy drives. Not only to show the importance of helping other and being giving, but also to show them that materialistic things can be let go of and with a good attitude.

I am sure there will be more traditions we add over the years. But I am pretty excited about this Christmas. More coming soon!

unpacking and entertaining

Well this past weekend was pretty eventful! On Thursday Jamie and myself went out for our Anniversary and had a nice dinner at Red Lobster...it was yummo! We were able to have unlimited shrimp! O man...so yummy. : ) Walked around the mall for a bit and then came back to hang out with the girls and my parents and Guy before bed.

Friday was our early Christmas. We had a lot of fun and ate way to many cookies and listened to some of Guy's music. Among our gifts was :some fun clothing, some shopping money, A piece of wood that has "I can only imagine" burnt into it. There were two gifts that were just incredible and blew my mind away. The first being white PS3, apparently only exclusive to Japan and Korea (from Guy) very very cool...Jamie cried...literally. It was something we didn't need, didn't plan on having...just never went there because we knew we couldn't. And here it is...this one of a kind, frivolous, tech thing. Pretty cool. AND the other...was a leather bag that my Daddy used to carry around everywhere with him...to church...to night classes..to work. My Dad didn't go anywhere without it and I told him he couldn't ever get rid of it. Guess who is the proud owner of a used leather bag? Yea...that's right...me : ) That one meant THE world to me.

Saturday we went to Castleton Square to shop since everyone got some money as a gift. That was pretty fun...I still have some left that I am planning on going to a thrift shop or goodwill with : )

Sunday we went to the church I grew up in. It was good because there were lots of people who I needed to connect with and a couple of people that I needed to make things okay.

And that brings us to today...just trying to get my house cleaned and put away more stuff and organize. Not much more but will update soon

Perfect Christmas

Christmas was great this year! It is great every year though. I remember how much I loved Christmas time last year because we were able to see lots of family and spend time here and there with friends. It was just an old fashioned Christmas with games and turkey and gifts and just how Christmas should be. This year it was slightly different...ok it was way different but I LOVED it! : )

Christmas eve we went to Pastor Kirk and Joyce's house and had a ham (the best ham I have ever had I am SURE) with Pastor Nathan and Abby and Dan (our sound guy at church). We ate shrimp cocktail and chips with dip for appetizer and then had an awesome ham and veggie dinner. Oh! And there was amazing hot cider...yum! Then we were off to our Christmas eve program!

There were only 10 people who showed up from our church but there was about 150 altogether and it was great to fellowship in the Lord! We got to sit and chat over refreshments with, who I believe to be, the oldest members of our church...Pete and Norma. Pete is from Norweigh and Norma is from Germany. She told us how she ran from the Russians with her mother in the 1950's...something so intense and she told it like it was no big deal at all. I was fascinated!

Afterward we went back to Pastor Kirks house and had pie and cookies and pumpkin bread and chocolate...oh man...it was everything I have been craving the last 8 months : ) We also watched a Charlie Brown Christmas. I have seen it a MILLION times...but this year it just really meant something to me. I love that they tell the REAL meaning of Christmas.

Kirk and Joyce had gifts for everyone and I was so overwhelmed! I recieved a beautiful willow tree figure called guardian http://www.giftsanddec.com/articles/images/GDA/20080428/0428bigDemdaco.jpgand Jamie got a book and a picture frame that says Daddy's girl. Abby and Nathan gave us fudge and I got a pair of BEAUTIFUL earrings from India : ) The best gift was just laughing at each other and feeling like we were at home.

Christmas morning Jamie and I opened the gifts from my parents and a couple of gifts we had gotten each other. I got an awesome pink fleecey robe for the hospital from Jamie : ) We hung out and ate some breakfast...took a nap...and then we went to Benihanna's Japanese Steakhouse. It was so fun! Our grill cook was so nice and kept me laughing. Jamie got steak and lobster tail (the best I have EVER had) and I got terriyaki steak. I almost had to be rolled out of there I was so full...but it was awesome. Needless to say that won't be happening again for a long long time, but it was such a nice gift from mom and dad and we really enjoyed it.

After that we came home and watched Christmas Story and the some of the first season of 24. We just got into that series and are really into it. I can't believe I didn't know about this for 7 years! haha OH and we also watch Christmas Vacation before we went to bed.

Jamie had the day off today so we slept in and cleaned a little and spent some gift cards. I would say it has been a very blessed week and I am thankful for all that happened. Even if our families weren't around it was so nice to be with our church family and I am thankful for the experience. I wouldn't change a thing.

On that note though... I can't wait to see our families! Jubilee should be coming soon and with it visits from Jamies family and mine! HOW EXCITING! Come on Jubilee...anyday now!