Showing off the Christmas Jammies!!

 

More Christmas!!

 

Abby, who takes after mom in her love of all things crafty, got an art tote and a bunch of little doodads (pipe cleaners, puffy balls, google eyes, craft glue, acrylic paint, etc...) to go in it. Daddy decided it would be fun to wrap each individual thing so she had a LOT to open on that one!!!

Christmas PIctures!!

 

Christmas morning always begins with stockings...Sarah is checking out how the mechanical toothbrush works!!

 

This has been the most used Christmas present yet! It has been raining all day so riding the new bike Joe got was out and using the new rollerblades was out so most of the day was taken up playing WiiFit and shooting at each other with Nerf dart guns!! There are Nerf darts all over my house in wierd places but they had SO MUCH FUN!!

 

Bethany has shown an overwhelming interest in learning how to decorate cakes and use fondant so I got her a student kit for fondant. You can't beat the deal I got the day after Thanksgiving either, 50% off then another 20% off of that 50%!! I love a bargain!!

Celebrating the Miracle of Hannukah!!

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Deuteronomy 6:4

Tonight at sundown was the beginning of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. I am not Jewish and I don't pretend to be an expert on the feasts, but my family has celebrated Hanukkah with my best friend (who was raised Jewish) for many years. When they moved away to Florida one of the many things the children said they missed was celebrating Hanukkah. For them, it was more the latke's and playing dreidel with their beloved friends, than it was about the miracle of Hanukkah. That miracle cannot, however, be overlooked.

Here is the definition of Hanukkah from wikipedia.com:

"Hanukkah", from the Hebrew word for "dedication" or "consecration", marks the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the forces of Antiochus IV and commemorates the "miracle of the container of oil". According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil.

As Christians we are told in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It would be wise of us to take pause at this time of year to reflect on the rededication of our bodies as a temple to the Holy Spirit and spend the next eight days taking stock of our spiritual stores, that we may not be caught unprepared when the Lord returns. (Matthew 25:1-13) How fortunate we are that God has seen fit to provide a miracle to us as well, in the form of a baby lying in a manger who came to pave the road to heaven by becoming the payment for our sins.

With this in mind, I celebrate and wonder at the greatness of a God who provided eight days of oil for His people, and who provides the even greater miracle of providing for the salvation of our souls through His Son Jesus Christ!!

So, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!! Be blessed in this and the coming year!!

WW

 

A Time to Be Thankful....

I was listening to KLOVE today and one of the radio personalities was asking people to call and say what they are thankful for...several people called in and said the things you would expect...The sovereignty of God, which covers all things...family, friends, etc...and it got me thinking...besides all those things, which of course I am EXTREMELY grateful for...what would I say I was thankful for if I was able to get through to the radio station??

My thoughts immediately went to my best friend Heather. In October of 2006 this wonderful woman was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer. We had some days, and weeks, and months...where we weren't sure she would make it. But she has. She has survived the horrible disease, and the sometimes even more horrible treatment. I am certainly not the only one, but I am beyond grateful that God has granted Heather one more day, and by His Grace many more days!! She is like a sister to me and I miss her (because she moved to Florida in the midst of this ordeal!) a ton, but am very glad I can pick up the phone and give her a call!!

She has published a book that talks about (among other things) her ordeal with cancer and shows her amazing GOD perspective on all things. You can order it here!!

Sudden Hail Storm!!

Weather in the Valley of the Sun can be fickle at times!! It was sunny and in the low 70's this afternoon when we left church and suddenly at about 2:45 thunder crashed and we had a sudden storm!! It started as rain, then turned to hail about a cm in diameter, and now it's 3:02 and it's gone!! Go figure!! Still, it's exciting when we have WEATHER (that's not just HOT) here in the sun capitol of the world!! I took a few pictures for proof!!

 

 

 

A Thousand Cranes

This is our cry,
This is our prayer,
Peace in the World!

 

"I had just prepared breakfast for my baby boy, I had bent over his basket to pick him up when I felt a tremendous wind blow me across the room.....my baby boy has not followed me here."

 

 

My junior thespian just finished her first play! The story of A Thousand Cranes is a touching one...it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Saduko is a 12yr old girl, who was two at the time the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. Now, 10 years later she discovers she has lukemia. This is her story. It's a great book as well. Definitely worth a look.

Bethany was fantastic and we are SO proud that she overcame her fears and kept on auditioning until she finally got a part. Now we may regret encouraging her toward that goal as she has definitely been bitten by the Theater bug and can't wait until auditions for the next production are held!

From the shores of California!!

Wow!! The time has gotten away from me!! Recently, my friends convinced me to sign up for facebook...I warn you it is somewhat addicting!! As a result my blog has been seriously neglected...apologies to my small readership!!

My BABY turned 13 on October 13th of this year!! Her greatest wish for many years has been to swim with the dolphins...so we pooled our money (some of her savings and some of the money we would have spent if she had a party) and we loaded the car and headed out to Sea World, San Diego just my daughter and I. We spent the drive chatting and laughing. She spent our first day at Sea World worrying a little that she'd miss her appointed swim time with the dolphins and reveling in the fact that she was an "only child" for the day and got to call all the shots!! She was more than a little nervous about swimming with the dolphins by herself (I opted to not spend the money and get some really great pictures instead!) but she was also very excited. God is SO good...as we waited for her group to be called I overheard a conversation next to me and the voice sounded familiar...I looked over and standing next to us with her daughter was B's fourth grade teacher (her "first" teacher besides me, and someone she utterly adored!) waiting to, you guessed it, swim with the dolphins!! Turns out her daughter was celebrating her birthday as well and they had done the exact same thing as her birthday gift!! B got to be in their group and share the experience with them, and I was able to take pictures for her teacher, something she had been a little concerned about!! Here's a few pictures:

 

 

 

 

We also spent a beautiful sunset on the beach at Belmont Park, and then got dinner and Henna tattoo's!! It was quite the mother/daughter date!! (truth be told, I had as much fun as she did!!)

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!! I can't believe my baby is a TEENAGER!!!

The Sunset from Belmont Park...