Note to self...

Steven Curtis Chapman is singing Christmas music in the background, the kids and I just finished putting the sprinkles on the Christmas cookies, and despite my messy house and stuffy nose I am feeling quite sentimental about the holiday.

December is a horribly busy month and I am striving and seeking to keep our little family focused and remembering our dear Jesus in the midst of it all.  When I think of him I am calm and at peace at once.  I have found our Advent wreath and will be blowing off the dust and putting it on the dining room table to help remind us all of the love of our God in sending Jesus.  We will try each night to teach the children the significance of the Scriptures that foretold of His coming, to help them realize that this Story is different than all others.  This isthe Story, the story of how our creator rescued us from our own ugliness and death and adopts us to be beloved children, blessed, loved, cherished.  I want this for them, more than anything, and I constantly need to be reminded of my place, of who I am and of whom I belong.  I forget so often and live as an orphan.

The Miracle of Christmas

A child is born tonight in Bethlehem
His mother holds him close and sings a sweet lullaby
All the world lay sleeping unaware that God himself has
come in the night.

The shepherds tremble as the angels sing
And in their song the voice of God speaks peace to the world
A miracle has happened, God has come and God
has spoken
but the miracle has only just begun.

And the God who spoke is speaking still
And the God who came still comes
And the miracle that happened still happens in the heart
that will believe
And we see(receive) the miracle of Christmas

So come to Bethelehem again and see
The one who's come to rescue us, our Savior and King
Bring your past, the joy, the sorrow, all your hope to
find tomorrow
And hear the words again, fear not and know that
God is near

Believe the miracle of Christmas 

Costumes, fires, and pumpkin guts

Sticking with the theme of “catching up” I had to post a picture of my three cuties this past Halloween.  We did the normal trick-or-treating but then had friends over for a bonfire, marshmallows and more candy.  It was a great time being together!

Oh, and here's what happened when Daddy asked the kids to help him take out the pumpkin guts!

 

Veteran's Day Blog Hijacking

The Iwo Jima War Memorial is one of the most indelible pictures of World War II.  Each and every year this is the day we remember our veterans that served in the military past and present.  Veterans like both of my grandfathers, my father, my brother, and my boss/brother-in-law. 

Last Sunday on our flight home from Chicago I was reading the book “Flags of our Fathers”.  It's a book about the lives of the men that you see in the photo above and the battle they fought on a small dirt mound in the Pacific named Iwo Jima.  As I was reading there was an older gentleman next to me that began rifling thru his wallet.  He nudges me a bit and asks”Like the book?”, I said yes.  He then hands me a photo of him as a young man sitting at the controls of a B-29 bomber.  He was a waist gunner and flew out of Saipan, they would stop on Iwo Jima to refuel on their way to and from bombing runs over Japan.  He was the oldest crewman on the plane at the ripe old age of 23.   6,800 men were killed and 20,000 were wounded in one of the fiercest battles of WWII for what some would call a gas station, but it was the major turning point of the war in the Pacific by allowing B-29's to strike deep into enemy territory and ultimately lead to the end of the war.

The gentleman next to me just turned 89 and was on his way to see his great-grandchildren.  As we talked I thanked him for his service and encouraged them that people of my generation have not and will not forget what all of our veterans have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice to keep our country free.  So thank a veteran this weekend.

–Mr. Simply Sam

Pugfest

I'll have to catch up with all of the major events in my life over the past two weeks in 3 or 4 posts -so hang in there!  I have lots of stories and pics to share…

OK(now this isn't a very major event in our lives but quite unique and blogworthy).  A couple weekends ago we dressed up our Miyagi and went to Pugfest, an annual event to raise money for the organization from which we adopted Miyagi.  Last year they had about 700 pugs(and owners) attend and this year I am sure as many showed up, including our little family. 

So…it wasn't really that much fun, but at least we have been, experienced it and never have to go again.  It really wasn't all Pugfest's fault…our children were crabby, it was very, very crowded with man and beast, plus a little smelly.  The pugs were as cute as can be but I'll have to agree to some extent with David when he said “That was a wasted $15 !”
Now please, take this as my opinion only!  I am sure there are many out there who love Pugfest and look forward to it all year ( kind of like we did in our ignorance).  But for this family, next year we'll make that drive to the mountains instead.

Here are a couple of pics of our favorite Pug and one that we liked at the 'fest.

Ok, ok...

I know its been forever since I posted , but I have been insanely busy and there are of course priorities which must be put in place such as homeschool, cleaning the house, playing with the kiddos, guitar playing…you get the picture!  And the poor blog is of course at the bottom of the list, even though I do enjoy it.

I had great intentions of posting last week on the 17th because it was my hubby's bday, so you'll have to step back in time with me and pretend its the 17th so I can gush about him and show you some pics of us then and now.

The first time I saw my hubby was my second semester at Moody.  I was a music major with a voice emphasis and he was a Bible Theo major with a music minor.  We were both taking voice lessons from the same instructor which meant that we had to sing in front of our class each week.  The day I first noticed him he was singing a song from Elijah and I was sitting in the back of the class holding hands with my boyfriend.  I remember thinking to myself what a great voice he had and my bf at the time even commented on it.

I ended up dating the same guy until school continued in the Fall of '96.  I came back to Moody as a single gal for the first time and didn't know that I had become a target. 

David and I became friends through our choirs.  He was the Chaplain of the Men's Choir and I was the Treasurer of the Women's Choir.  Our choirs were notorious for being together and making many romantic matches over the years.  Over the next few months, he started to make his intentions known towards me and I let my intentions known that I was not interested.  After having been in a serious relationship for two years I was hesitant to become involved with someone so quickly again.

Sidenote:  These pics are huge!  Everytime I try to edit them they get too distorted, prob. because they're  a picture of a picture!

Here's a picture of a bunch of us going iceskating.  We were still just friends at this point, but somehow he was everywhere I went!

By March of the next year he had wooed me and I was head-over-heels for him!!  We became one of those couples that were together as often as possible, but I think most of the campus population was happy for us and our newly found bliss.  We were engaged that summer and spent our last year at Moody balancing friends, choirs, and …oh, yeah, school!  I had my senior voice recital and a Choir trip to Europe to help plan.  He was now president of the Men's Choir and had a Mission's Trip to Morocco to plan.  Oh, and also our wedding!

Here's my love recruiting for Men's choir:

And here is the happy couple at one of our big events of the year:

So there's our little story in a nutshell! 

Thankyou, love, for pursuing me, for loving me and never giving up on me.  Thank you for your wisdom in our lives and in our marriage.  Thank you for being a fantastic husband and father.  Thank you for loving God and making decisions to follow His leading in our lives.  Thank you for “picking ” on me to get my attention.  Thank you for bringing me Starbucks when I don't expect it.  Thank you for loving my family.  Thank you for working so hard to provide for our  little family.  Thank you for coming home as soon as you can from work because you look forward to seeing us.  Thank you for loving me when I'm completeley irrational and unlovable.  Thank you for telling me the truth when I need to hear it and for challenging me to love God more deeply,  Thank you for our great discussions.  Thank you for being my very best friend!  I love just sitting with you and being with you.  Thank you for loving this sinner and for helping me along this path of life.  I love you forever!  Happy 32nd!
love, Sam

A Mid-Summer Fall's Dream

I'm wishing and waiting and wanting it to be Fall!!  It might be according to the calendar but the temperature here in sunny GA is not consistent with the season.  Minus my time in Chicago for college, I have lived in GA my whole life and I still grumble and complain that it is not colder yet.
Despite the unseasonlike weather, our little family jumped in the car a few weekends ago and headed up too the closest “mountain-like” apple orchard and pumpkin farm.  We have a usual place in the mountains that we have been visiting since Hannah was a babe but we are saving that for a (hopefully) cold weekend.
We had a great time together and bought fresh apples, peanuts, peach cider, potatoes, fried apple pies, and of course a great big pumpkin!

                                                               Cutie-pie Jonah   

Sweet Hannah

                             The big boys                                  

*Warning*, Potty Picture!

Well, I can't believe it!  I'm experiencing one of those things I just thought wouldn't happen to me as a parent-my child actually wants to use the potty!  Hannah and Ethan were tough cookies when it came to potty training…I started Hannah at three because Ethan was about to arrive and I didn't want two in diapers and I started Ethan at three because, well I had heard that boys were late starters and was too tired to even try earlier.
And then comes Jonah..the baby of the family in every way so far except for this.  He started asking me to “go potty” about a month ago.  I would take off his diaper and put him on the potty.  He never did anything until last week and just this past Saturday I decided to make it official!  I dug out the “big boy underwear” and he has been wearing them now for three days (minus nights and naps)  He is doing so well and actually takes himself, pulls his own underwear down and wipes every time.  This just can't be!  I'm waiting for some revolt ( which may still happen) but right now I'm in potty bliss and I'm so proud of my little fella!
Here he is in true “boy” style: