It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Chritmas

My sweet, dear friend Kelsey sent this to me in an email...I thought it was so cute, so I had to put it in a post!!!
Here is the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends...
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I don't know...I prefer to receive and give wrapped gifts but I usually give more gifts in sacks due to lack of material and my poor ability to wrap.
2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial. I have always wanted a real tree, but have never had one. My brother, Chad, was allergic growing up.
3. When do you put up the tree? usually after Thanksgiving, but this year we put it up before Thanksgiving because of our busy schedule after Turkey Day (Polar Express the 5th, Christmas Dinner Theatre the 13th , and Christmas with my family at our house - the 20th)
4. When do you take the tree down? after New Year's
5. Do you like eggnog? Not at all...and I don't like Fruit Cake
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably the year I got a "real" baby doll...she looked and felt so real!
7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad, brother, and Ronnie
8. Easiest person to buy for? Drew and Kade
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes...I bought two of them this year. One is for the boys. It has a book that goes with it and discusses each of the figurines...I also bought my first

(drum roll please......)

Willow Tree Nativity set. I love it, love it, love it. It will probably take 3 years to get all the pieces for it, but I have to start somewhere.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? usually mail (over 100 a year) but this year I am going to email my cards with a link to my blog. I will probably do a mail out next year and just flip/flop every other year.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of one
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November this year
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? haha - yes. Hey, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? If we are at Ronnie's parent - Pumpkin bread. At my parents - it's dressing
17. Favorite Christmas song? All of them! I started listening to Christmas music at the beginning of November
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We are stayint at our home for the first time this year then after Santa comes we will go to Ronnie's mom
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen AND Do you recall the most famous Reindeer of all... Rudolph
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We don't have either yet...we are looking for something that is just right.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? both...from family Christmas eve and Santa Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People who aren't in the holiday spirit
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? anything that symbolizes a memory from the past (for example the year we remodeled our house in Seminole, Ronnie was given a Bob the Builder OR the ornament that is filled with bonfire ashes from the last bonfire that burned at A&M)
24. Who do you want to respong? Well I guess I tag Charla, Haylee, Amanda, Stephanie, Carly, Shannon, Holly, Nicole, Erin, Steph. T., and Laura D
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I would like some nice shirts, tall boots for church, and/or money
26. What color lights do you prefer? We have twinklin' white lights on the tree and white and red outside
27. Favorite Christmas memory? The year Ronnie and I met I was suppose to fly to Lubbock but a terrible ice storm hit and the flight was cancelled. Ronnie surprised me at my apartment in college station. I had never built a snow man, so Ronnie brought me a snow man in his ice chest.
28. Worst Christmas memory? Two years ago I spent Christmas in the hospital because of the preclamsia I had when I was expecting Kade. It was awful not spending Christmas with the Drew and Ronnie.
29. Favorite Christmas candy? Ronnie's is peanut patties and mine is probably chocolate covered peanuts.
30. Favorite family tradition - In my mom's family we play a lot of Rummie, 42, etc. I am hoping this Christmas to start some traditions with the boys.

Leave me a comment and share your favorite Christmas tradition.

I have never known a love like this!

Have you ever looked at something and thought to yourself, "I wish I could bottle up this moment. I wish I could bottle up the sound of their chests rising and falling, the smell of dirt and baby lotion marrying together, the feel of their sweet skin when I kiss them, the touch of their chubby little hands and cheeks, and the sight of two of the biggest miracles in my life touching each other."

I have never known a love like this!


Our neighbor Debbie took a picture of the cotton behind our house getting picked. I wish I could bottled up this moment as well...the excitement in Drew's face was priceless. I have never known a child to love John Deere so much. He prays for John Deere, he only colors with green, he eats all the green gum balls first.

I have never known a love like this!




There is nothing I wouldn't give my boys...
Play in the mud, why not? Sing "Jingle Bells" for the millionth time...I would love too!
Put the Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving...no problem!
Let you wear an orange hard hat to church...what will it hurt?

I have never known a love like this!

But here is the thing Max Lucado's book "He Chose The Nails" has me thinking about... God loves me more!

It's a fact, I have never known a love like the one I have for Drew and Kade. It's the pounding of my heart, lump in my throat, goose bumps on my skin kind of love that started the day they were born. They couldn't offer me anything in return. All they did was cry and eat and poop, but woe be it to the person who tried to harm them. As soon as they were born I saw beauty...the wrinkled nose, the peeling red skin, the gooey bell button.

But God loves me more?
Romans 5:8 says, "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."
When I was ugly and grotesque in my sin...God still loved me. In fact, He sent His only Son to be beaten, mocked, spit on, and nailed to a cross only to bear the shame of every one of my sins that was nailed to the cross with him. No, you might not have seen the list of wrongs, but they were there between his hand and the cross. His blood blotted each one of them out. Now I am no longer seperated from the Father.
I have never known a love like this!
I love Ronnie, my parents, Chad, Charla, my friends. I would like to think I would give my own life for them, but I could never sacrifice one of my boys for any of their lives. I just couldn't!
I have never known a love like this!

I would make any sacrifice gladly to for my boys because I love them. I love to give them gifts, there is just nothing like seeing their eyes light up with excitement and gratefulness. I will go without shoes, a new car, vacations, expensive make-up, etc gladly...just like the sacrifice my mom made when she went without braces for 27 years so my brother and I could have the priviledge to smile with perfectly straight teeth! There is no sacrifice to large to make for your children...no price too high! Don't you agree?
Matthew 7:11 says, "If you hardhearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won't your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them."
James 1:17 in the Message says, "Every desirable and beneficial gift comes from heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light."
Do we realize that every gift and blessing in our life is a cascade of light that reveals the heart of God, that reveals the face of God? Thanksgiving Day is remembering that our God is a giving God, a loving God, a compassionate God. His priceless gift did not come wrapped with a bow under the Christmas tree, but was nailed with love to a cross.
I have never known a love like this!
You want to know the best part? We don't have to bottle up this love and put it away. God makes his mercies new every morning. We can live it, breathe it, visit it, taste it, and smell the love every day!
I have never known a love like this!

8 Things

Well I got tagged by my favorite SIL, Charla, so here goes!

8 Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Cold Case
2. Criminal Minds
3. O'Reilly Factor
4. Joyce Meyer
5. Jon and Kate Plus 8
6. Without a Trace
7. Biggest Loser
8. Bones

8 Restaurants I Love:
1. On The Border
2. Wings and More (In College Station)
3. Hunan's (in Giddings)
4. Pei Wei
5. Texas Land and Cattle Co.
6. Subway
7. KBOB's in Childress (Great Salad Wagon)
8. Kettle - I love their pancakes!!!

8 Things That Happened Today:
1. I woke up at 8:30 (I am blessed by boys that sleep in=)
2. Sang "Do Lord" with Kade...He can sing the song now. I sing "Do Lord, O do Lord, O do remember..." and He sings "Me". It is the cutest thing you have ever heard!
3. Made the boys breakfast (milk and cinnamon toast)
4. Did a load of laundry
5. Turned on my IPOD- I got an awesome new CD at our walk!!!
6. Did the dishes
7. Checked my email
8. Started the boys on a painting project

8 Things I am looking forward To:
1. Thanksgiving - I am going to my mom's
2. The Polar Express Train Ride - December 5th
3. Christmas shopping with Ronnie - December 6th
4. Aggie Basketball starting
5. Christmas Morning at our house with the boys- for the first time!
6. Beth Moore Conference in February
7. Sea World Vacation
8. Starting my project to refinish my old bedroom furniture for Kade's room. (I am going to distress it)- You can go check out his new bedding if you click here.

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. Getting new bedroom furniture this Spring - you can check it out on Pottery Barn- The Hudson Line
2. Getting to have more opportunities to speak and share my testimony
3. Our church is looking for a new preacher - I am praying for a man who is on fire for God and who is Spirit-filled!
4. A King-sized bed
5. A new camera
6. Building a house in the country soon!
7. New tenny-shoes
8. For our women's ministry at our church to explode (we are launching it next Spring)

8 People I tag to do this on their blog:
1. Nicole
2. Haylee
3. Holly
4. Amanda
5. Carly
6. Shannon
7. Brandi
8. Stephanie

Happy Birthday Haylee

Today I just wanted to wish Haylee a Happy, Happy Birthday!

"Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Haylee,

Happy Birthday to You!"

A few things I really admire about Haylee

1. I have never seen her without a smile on her face.

2. She loves her hubby, Chance.

3. She is an awesome, awesome Mom to Rayden and Casen.

4. She is always willing to help at a moments notice.

5. She is real, authentic, and genuine. What you see is what you get - and I appreciate that!



Feel free to go by her blog and leave her a birthday wish!

Living In the Overflow of God's Love

I just finished Max Lucado's book called A Love Worth Giving - I wanted to share a few revelations from his book!

Max says when we try to love people with out knowing how much God loves us it is like writing a check without making a deposit. The whole book is based on what 1 Corinthians 13 says about love, "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Each chapter takes a look at the different aspects of love.

Points I liked:
1. Love is Kind- Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light." Max makes the point that in ancient Israel Farmers trained young oxen by yoking them to older ones - so the older ones could carry the load. Jesus is saying in this verse, "Dawn, let me carry your load. We are yoked together." Max asks, "I wonder how many burdens is Jesus carrying for us that we know nothing about?" There have been times this last year when something bad has happened and I have asked God, "You know, this should be hurting a lot more." It was like God was holding back the tidal wave of pain and only allowing me to be sprinkled with the mist. He is my burden carrier.

2. Love is not proud - Talk about a Christmas gift; when Jesus was born, Max writes, "He humbled himself. He went from commanding angels to sleeping in straw. From holding stars in his hand to clutching Mary's fingers. The palm that held the universe took a nail of a soldier. Why? Because that's what love does." Think about it...Christ who was there when the earth was formed reduced himself down to the size of a fertilized egg (invisible to the eye) only to wait in an unwed teenage mother's womb for 9 months for me and for you. "Amazing love how can it be,

that you my King would die for me.

Amazing love, I know that its true,

and its my joy to honor you in all I do."

3. Love is courteous - Jesus is a gentlemen! He tells you His name (Acts 2:38) and calls you by your name (John 10:3). Have you ever thought about it, Christ never barges in? He waits for you to invite him into your heart (Rev 3:20). When you pray Christ never interrupts you even though he knows everything you are going to say...even the things you don't say but think (Eph 3:20)

4. Love always protects - when Adam and Eve sinned they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, but it wasn't enough.

"The Lord made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them." Eph 3:21

Just soak that in for a moment, God made the clothes and DRESSED THEM. You know I never realized that this was the first blood sacrifice that atoned for sin. God had to kill an innocent animal - one of Adam's best friends; he was the one that named all the animals. God was not angry with Adam and Even; he saw they were in need of covering, and he made the clothes. Then when the clothes were finished he didn't through them at their feet and kick them out of the garden, he dressed them - WOW! Some people see God as angry and a judge because he threw them out of the garden, but I believe that was his first act of grace. You see in the garden the trees Adam and Eve ate from would allow them to live forever. When they sinned it separated them from God. If they continued to eat from the trees of life, God would have no way of bringing them back to him because they would live forever in our sinful world. God sent them out of the garden, I bet he had tears in his eyes, but
Love always protects.

I highly recommend this book! I so wish you and I could sit across the table from each other and discuss it in length.

Welcome Neighbor's Grandbaby

Our good, good friends and next door neighbors saw their first grand baby today. Kate Ryann was born Friday the 7th weighing 7 oz to Kelly and Justin of Amarillo. We couldn't be happier for Debbie and Royce "Boyce"! They are such great surrogate grandparents to our boys...I can't wait to see them with Kate Ryann!

Fall Fun

Drew and Kade enjoyed playing in the leaves outside today!

Kade was "tackling" the leaves.

Drew wanted to slide in the leaves. Then the boys decided they would be "steam-rollers" down the "mountain"!

Thanks Aunt "T" for our John Deere bears. The boys loved "building" them and they sleep with them every night!

Drew earned his first dollar today raking leaves.

We are trying to teach him that all money is God's money, so he put 10 cents in God's Jar!

I asked him what he was saving for and he said, "Hmm...chicken nuggets and a tractor!"

Random Updates

This is my brother, Chad, and some of his friends at a Halloween party. He is the one with orange on! Chad lives in Houston and works for Ryan & Company.

Funny things Drew is saying:

Last Thursday, Kade's ball rolled out in the street. Drew knows not to chase the ball so he held Kade back. When it rolled back to the drive way, Drew retrieved it for Kade. He was so proud of himself; he said, "I am a super hero...I can do anything "anyfing". Mom, I am so strong."

Then this morning he came to the kitchen and told me, "Mom, I brushed my teeth because I don't want my teeth to fall off."

The boys spent the weekend with their Daddy. Ronnie took them to Childress and I had two entire days to myself. I cleaned the house (and it stayed clean...amazing!!), worked on some Walk to Emmaus stuff, watched girlie movies, shopped in Lubbock, went to church, and slept. It was so great. Thank you Ronnie!