The Christmas Season

My most favorite time of year.  Things have been super busy over here lately, so my blog is getting a little neglected again.  However, I've been doing some daily writing on Instagram if you want to come check that out.  You can find many of these (that I'm referring to) under the hashtag #praycember.

The whole Praycember idea was the genius of one of our pastors who asked us to pray every day this month for our church and for the whole Church (body of believers, bride of Christ).  This has been a great challenge for me and I feel myself being stretched in new ways through the course of this AND Advent Bible readings I'm doing sort of alongside Praycember.

This month has been a real blessing to my heart and soul and I can't wait to hopefully share some specifics with you soon.  But, I shall wait for now.

Thanks for continuing to check back to see if I've posted.  I apologize for the irregularity, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to dedicate more of my time this month to time with the Lord and celebrating the Christmas spirit.

I hope all is going well for you this merry season.

In The Aftermath of Thanksgiving

(Source)

I totally wanted to write a special Thanksgiving post, but obviously, it didn't happen.  I have so many things for which to be thankful and often, I write about them here in this blog, so doing a specific post may not always be necessary. 

We were blessed this year that my parents came out from California to spend the holiday with us and with my sister's family.  They arrived here safely and as I type, they are stopped for the night after the first half of their drive back home. Time with them is a precious commodity and while we've had a few opportunities to spend time with them in the past year -- which is more than some years -- their visits are never long enough.

7 in 7: Day 3

Goodbye, July.

This has really been a month of ups and downs emotionally and spiritually.  There are some days I am so close to my Lord and other days when I wonder if He's hearing me at all.  Of course, He is!  It's a good thing I have faith because some days He's just not very evident -- except in the small ways, that I have to look hard to find.

But this is not about that.

Instead, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite photos from the month (besides what you can see on Instagram - just click the square camera on the right to take a look online).  I was super wordy yesterday, so today, I'll be picturey and I'll shut up.  Ha.

Enjoy...

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Jesus is Alive!

I pray you do not feel alone this Easter Sunday and that you will gather with others in love to celebrate this wonderful holiday together.

For those of you who are unable to gather together, you are never alone.  Christ our Lord is your Father and Friend, with you always.  I pray you know him well!

Lent, Day 34 and So On

I still have a lot of other things I want to blog about when I have some spare minutes ... or hours.  But I don't want to fall down completely on the whole Lenten Thankfulness thing!  It's what's kept me going over this very busy season of life.

Lent, My Days 28-33

Maybe I'm getting lazier, but I can't believe it's been almost a week since I updated my Lent Thankfulness List here.  So bear with me as I tear through six joy-filled days (okay, so not completely joy-filled, but I'm trying to think about the good stuff right now).

Day 28, Tuesday
I am thankful for a flexible schedule to be able to rest up after our whirlwind trip to Arizona.  We didn't do much of anything this day except some unpacking and straightening up.  I watched E and drove my older nieces to and/or from school.  C was at work, of course, so that made me even more thankful for my job at home since he didn't get much of a break at all after all that driving.

Lent Thanksgiving

So my sister, Jessica, has a lot of great ideas.  She sickens me with her immense creativity and her ability to think up new stuff all the time.  Now, she's outdone herself again.

Ash Wednesday was yesterday and seriously, People, I did remember that (even if I did not acknowledge it publicly), but today when I took the kids to the zoo (with friends) I was contemplating how last Lent season I gave up chips and fries for 40 days.  That was really difficult back then.

But now that I've gone Paleo for the most part, giving up food doesn't seem like such a challenge.  My priorities have changed.  I just didn't know what to do in recognition of Lent this year.

On Valentine's Eve

Once again, the day of love is upon us and once again, I allowed too many things to get in my way.  So my Valentine's cards are still sitting on my desk, unsigned, unmailed.  Just like last year.

My Weekend... and Monday

Hello Everybody!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and maybe had the chance to check out the guest posts.  If not, make sure you do, it's a good read and good insight from my wonderful husband, C.

My weekend was quite the mixed bag, so I thought I'd tell you about it and let you know how today is going so far.

Merry Christmas Eve

Snowflakes made - check.

Presents wrapped and under the tree - check.

Other secret presents ready to be staged for the kids after they go to sleep tonight - check.

Christmas Eve clothing laid out - check.

Camera prepped - check.

Cards put into the mailbox for belated greetings to our closest family and friends - check.

Cinnamon rolls being prepared by C - check.  (Can you smell them from there?)

Avoiding signs of winter weather - check.  Ha!  Take that weather people who told us we'd be getting a big snowstorm today!

C learned his songs for Christmas Eve Service - check.


Okay, I think we're ready for you Baby Jesus.  Let's party!

I hope all is well for you, also.

Christmas Freebie

In doing some final shopping on Amazon this morning, I ran across this free download of "Must Have" Christmas music.  Just in case you didn't know this was out there ... enjoy some holiday cheer.  For free!

Accomplishments and Anticipation

I'm usually the lady still rushing around on Christmas Eve to finish up shopping for gifts.  But this year, I'm already 98% done and I still have a week!

I feel good.  I've been wrapping things as I get them, so that's pretty much done.  I just need to finish up a couple things for my nieces and I'm finished.  Seriously!

Catching Up

I haven't seen my computer much over the past week.  I think Christmastime keeps me pretty busy doing a lot of other stuff (so I have more I can write about here?), so please don't give up on me.  As things settle down, I'll get back to posting more regularly ... but for now, I'll post when I have a free moment.

Weekend Recap

I am just sitting down at my computer for the first time since Friday.  I am excited to tell you about our weekend.  What a fun way to begin our December!

Christmas on TV

I don't know about you, but I love Christmas movies.  We don't get too many gloomy winter days here in New Mexico, but it does get dark early and it's fun to cuddle up on the couch with a kid or five and settle in for a holiday classic.

I was thrilled to find out that ABC Family has posted their Christmas movies for the month in an easy to save or print PDF file so we can be sure to record and watch some of our favorites.

Check it out HERE.

House in a Snowglobe

I got this link from a couple different family members and it's a fun thing to do for the holidays...

Click HERE to check it out for yourself.

Thanksgiving Menu

I already gave you a list of things I'm thankful for (yesterday), so today, I'm going to talk about the food!

C and his fabulous cooking talents did not go to waste this year.  He was especially challenged to create some Paleo-friendly foods so H and I could eat.  I will tell you that H splurged and had a couple bites of non-Paleo food for the holiday (but mostly did great!), but I was able to happily stuck to my diet and still felt celebratory all day long!

Normal

I just got the call from the doctor's office and H has no fractures!  It's a Thanksgiving miracle.

On a side note...as a Christian, homeschooling, adoptive family of seven, we are often the oddballs in our neighborhood and everywhere we go, so it's kind of strange hearing that the radiologists report that "everything is normal."

Anyway, so his knee and foot are still swollen, so he's to keep that leg elevated -- above his heart -- today.  He should be able to gradually wean off the crutches in the next couple days and if he still can't put pressure on that leg in a week, he needs to be re-x-rayed because apparently some fractures don't show up for days after an accident.  (I'd never heard that.)  But if he's walking on it again, we're good!

I have something extra to be thankful for this year.

Everyday Extremes

In the morning, our oldest sons asked if they could take a walk together before we started school.  Frankly, I was a tad bit suspicious of this question because one of them loathes extra exercise and both of them don't often get along all that well unless they're scheming.

Against my better judgment, I allowed them to take a "quick walk."

Veteran's Day 2012

Before we head out the door to hear our mayor speak at our local Veterans Memorial Park this morning, I wanted to post a thank you to all the men and women and their families who have sacrificed so much to defend our freedoms in this country.

Image courtesy of VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Happy Veterans Day (I realize it was officially yesterday, but it's widely observed today).  Let us pray for the soldiers who are still fighting for freedoms around the globe today.