Sunday, December 7, 2008

Recipe for Magic...

Take some...

Snowflakes falling 
on a blanket of white


Add in...

Christmas Carols
ringing through the speakers


Must have...

A roaring fire in the fireplace


For extra sweetness..

A delicious mug of hot chocolate

All while...

Decorating the Christmas tree


And you'll have magic!

Brought to you from our house...we had magic today!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Do you have these?

If you have small children, these books are excellent! We bought God Gave Us You when Emily was young and then God Gave us Two when we were pregnant with Benjamin. Just this week, I bought God Gave Us Christmas and God Gave Us Heaven and was so excited to find them. They are so well written at just the right level for the kids. They're written in the format of the Mother Bear talking to her Little Bear. If you have small children or grandchildren and are looking for some books to put under the tree, I'd go for God Gave Us Christmas and God Gave Us Heaven; you won't be disappointed with these, I promise!



Friday, December 5, 2008

Birthday Bliss...


What a wonderful birthday thanks to my wonderful husband! Birthday Eve, Jason baked me a cake (from SCRATCH!) complete with homemade icing! It was delicious (& still is...we're still working on it.) 

Birthday morning started out with Emily serving me breakfast (a bowl of Crispix) and having breakfast with her. After the other two made it downstairs, it was present time! (Don't you love presents?) I had been wanting a weather station to put in my kitchen window. I told Jason a long time ago that I'd like one and he remembered! (Extra points for him!) 

Jason took the day off from work (without me asking!) and he took Emily & Ben to school. On his way home, he picked up danishes from The Fresh Market...yum, yum! We took Abby to her music class, which was so cute and fun and then had lunch at Benihana. (Could I get one of those cooktops for my kitchen?) 

Birthday wishes from friends and family and even a couple of surprise birthday presents from friends (Red Velvet Cupcake Mix  with Peppermint Snow and kitchen towels from Williams Sonoma...oh man! and a beautiful two-tone bracelet) made the day even more special. Dinner was pizza and the cake and then it was early to bed for this old lady!

Thank you, Jason, for making me feel so special. 
I love you!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Happy birthday to me!


Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
What a great day this will be!
Happy birthday to me!


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Website Wednesday!


Thanks to my mother-in-law, I have been introduced to a cool website: Pandora.com, which is an internet radio site. That may not sound so exciting to you, but wait! "It's a new kind of radio... stations that play only the music you like"!

It's so simple... first you must create a log-in. (Don't worry, they don't ask for anything too personal here... no credit card, no blood type, etc...) After you have your log-in, you're ready to go. Select "create a new station" and a window will pop up for you to enter a song title or artist name. The site will then search for songs that match your search as well as songs that are similar to your selection. If at any time, there is a song playing on your station that you don't care for, just delete it. So, I created a John Mayer station, did a search for John Mayer in creating my new station, and I now have a station called John Mayer that plays songs by John Mayer, Matchbox Twenty, Maroon 5 and other artists that fit within the same genre of John Mayer's songs. I now have several different stations created and can listen to them individually or select "Quick Mix" and Pandora will shuffle through all my stations.

From the company's website:
When was the last time you fell in love with a new artist or song?
At Pandora, we have a single mission: To play music you'll love - and nothing else.
To understand just how we do this, 
and why we think we do it really, really well, 
you need to know about the Music Genome Project®.

Since we started back in 2000, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts has been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart's content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.

You can create as many "stations" as you want. And you can even refine them. If it's not quite right you can tell it so and it will get better for you.

The Music Genome Project was founded by musicians and music-lovers. We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help you connect with the music YOU like.

No commercials, no unwanted songs, 
easy filtering for younger ears...

Happy listening!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Where the rubber meets the road...

I tend to be a legalistic person, rule-follower, typical first-born child. However, as I have gotten older and experienced life in various ways, my legalistic nature has softened around the edges somewhat. I have learned that life is hard and the older we get, the more hardships we experience. I never imagined that by the time I was 30, I would be able to name several personal friends whose marriage would end in divorce. As life gets in our way, it begins to chip away at our shell, sometimes leaving deep wounds that scar us heavily. 

Over the past few years, I have prayed incessantly for God to make me more compassionate. I don't tend to be naturally compassionate and it has truly become my heart's desire to be able to feel compassion for others and to view situations through eyes not just governed by rules, but enveloped with compassion as well. I have to admit that this Thanksgiving, for the first time, in the middle of my meal (which was in abundance, let me tell you), I felt a twinge of guilt...guilt because there I was eating a feast when others in our world had nothing for their Thanksgiving meal. I have noticed recently the edges of my heart being chipped away, allowing compassion to enter in. Thank you, Lord.

Disappointment is a way of life and I think it tends to be more so for us A-type personalities who have such high expectations, not just for ourselves, but for the world around us. I tend to naturally expect people to "do the right thing" and that's just simply not always the case, is it? In my efforts to see others through the film of compassion, I have become much more understanding in how people become affected by life's disappointments and injuries and how these lead to not always doing the right thing. However, my biggest struggle is in these times how many people, who call themselves Christians, turn away from God, abandoning what they once claimed to stand for. It's overwhelming to me how many Christians believe they "deserve" so much more than what life is offering them.

But, here is where I push the pause button and ask...isn't this where the rubber meets the road? Isn't this what faith is all about? Is this life and it's offerings all we are interested in? What about the eternity with our Heavenly Father we've been striving for? Just like God said to Job, who are we to expect more than we deserve? Where were we when God was forming the heavens and the earth, creating a world for us to live in? Who are we to expect to have a smooth journey? It was never promised to us. However, God's presence and His love were promised to us. We were promised to not have to go this life alone. No matter what situation we're facing, God is there. It's our choice when the rubber meets the road to reach out to Him, to hold on to Him through the fire, and to praise Him for refining us through all encounters life hurls.

Think back to your childhood when you had fire drills or disaster drills at school. What was the purpose of these drills...to know what to do if the real thing happened. Isn't faith a little bit like these drills? We build our faith to carry us through the hard times, to know that no matter what life throws us, it will pass and life will change, but God will not. He is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

If life is somewhat of a tornado right now and the ground doesn't feel very firm, there is One who will carry you through it and keep you by His side. Now is the time to grab onto Him.

I encourage you to read Psalm 91. It was written for you.

 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; 
       I will be with him in trouble, 
       I will deliver him and honor him.

Psalm 91:15

Monday, December 1, 2008

What we're reading this week...

So, back to blogging after a short break (sort of). Here's what we're reading this week. My selection and Jason's selection are a bit strange; we're reading these more out of curiosity than thinking we were picking really great books. So here goes...

Click on the image to link to Amazon's website.

Jason's reading...
(This is actually three books, the first one being "The Golden Compass" that caused a great stir in the Christian community for being anti-God and anti-church.)


My reading...
(This is the second book in the "Twilight" series. It's getting a bit far-fetched for me, but it's easy reading and a page turner.)


Emily's reading...
(This book is hilarious!)


Ben's reading...
(Cute book to boost confidence with an early reader.)

Abby's reading...
(We love Eric Carle!)

Happy reading!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A little piece of history...


This is Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation. In 1863, Lincoln acknowledged the Most High God as the giver of gifts and that His mercy outweighs our sins. Wouldn't it be nice to hear words like this coming from the White House today in 2008 instead of the constant fights to squeeze God out of everything? We have much to be thankful for in this country and we must remember, just as Lincoln did, who has granted these blessings.

So, using the words of Abraham Lincoln, we "implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day

October 3, 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln

Our first snowman!


Here is our first Ohio snowman! We had fun rolling him around the yard until he was just the right size, dressing him up, and completing the task with a snowball fight. Isn't he cute?



Sunday, November 23, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!



Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

This week is Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe it's here already! Even scarier is if Thanksgiving is here, that means Christmas is not far behind. It seems that each year, commercially, Thanksgiving is easily forgotten as we go from seeing Halloween to Christmas when we're out and about. I'm actually very impressed that I have not yet seen any Christmas lights in our town.

I think Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It's the one holiday that is simply about togetherness; family, friends, FOOD, and reflecting on the things that call us to be thankful. I am going to take a break from blogging again this week because we have a busy household with everyone home, two new kitties and Grandma coming to town. I also want to just focus on being with my family and spending time reflecting on the blessings that God has lavished upon me this year.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving. This may be a tough time of year for you or maybe this year has been especially hard. At times, it's difficult to find things to be thankful for, but I encourage you to find even one thing that you are able to sincerely give thanks. God calls us to be thankful in the good times and the hard times, for all hope is found in Him and His love is far greater than whatever it is we might be facing in our present struggles.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; 
His love endures forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34

Now, our God, we give you thanks 
and praise your glorious name.
1 Chronicles 29:13