Go. Be. Do.

Thanks so much to Jenilee for hosting "Lazy Wednesday's Walk" over the holidays.  I've really enjoyed reading over my posts looking for one to link up each week.  As the final week approached, I struggled with which one to choose.  Pretty much it was between two in the end, but I decided on this one from last December...enjoy " keep moving forward ". (You won't hurt my feelings if you laugh out loud, either.  I do every time I read it).

Although the snow has somewhat disappeared from our yard, there was enough left this morning for a little snow fun here at the house.  They did some sledding while at their Nana and Pawpaw's house when the snow was fresh and had great fun doing it!  They spent the past two nights over there, so this morning was the first chance we got to sled at our house.  I love how we are able to make the most out of what we have to work with in the moment.  It makes life so fun! We were even able to get our Mommy & Me photo taken while outside enjoying the fresh, brisk air. Happy Monday! Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:7-17 As I was sitting here on Christmas evening, I was thinking about th...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  May God's blessings of abundant life, unconditional love and abounding joy be yours this day and in the New Year! Scott, Janet, Alex and Tim And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:8-14

I really like those "Not Me Monday" kind of posts.  I find them very entertaining and creatively written.  Never really thought I'd have anything interesting to write about in such a fashion.  No, not me. It kind of started back on Friday when I was not a homeschool mom that decided to take the day off of school simply because it was Tim's birthday.  It wasn't me who made cinnamon rolls for a midmorning snack for all of us to enjoy while Tim opened some birthday presents.  I was not the one who then took the boys out for a power lunch at Taco Mac at Tim's request.  It wasn't me that used the "I need to go pick up the pork and stew at Cafe Pig anyway." to justify going into Peachtree City for said lunch.  It wasn't me who had to stop at Kroger on the way home...on a Friday afternoon, a week before Christmas.  Also on the way home, it wasn't me who was tempted to stop for a peppermint milkshake at Chick-fil-A. ...

                                                              Birthday morning...a great start to his day! A total surprise of Rudolph characters.           He soon had a "set up" ready. Helping make his white cake... and never spilled one drop.   Voluntary reading break.  Priceless. Tim helping to chop pulverize the strawberries to have with the cake and ice cream. Round two of presents... His white cake with white frosting, candles of his choosing, and his Toy Story 3 friends.  Tim says it's the best birthday ever.  I've enjoyed all 7 of them, but today was a great day!

A few years ago a friend of mine introduced me to these yummy treats that are crazy simple to make.  I don't have an offical name for them, but they are a pretzel turtle so to speak.  You only need three ingredients:  waffle pretzels, Rolo candies, and pecan halves. Unwrapping the Rolos are the most time consuming part of the candy making process, so do it first.                     Find whole waffle pretzels (so they look nice) and lay them on a baking sheet.  If you desire to use parchment paper, please do so. (I forgot for this batch).Place a Rolo on each pretzel.  Now, you place the baking sheet in a low temperature oven (250 degrees) and you don't even have to preheat it if you don't want to.  Be careful the pretzels slide very easily!  You'll know the Rolos are soft when they get really shiny and...

It seems this holiday season, beginning back with Thanksgiving, the word that is on my mind is joy.  Joy unspeakable, joy. It really all began when I overheard a lady talking with her husband in the booth behind the boys and I at Chick-fil-A one afternoon.  Mind you, I don't make a habit of eavesdropping on others' conversations.  She was sitting directly behind me, though, and, wanting to or not, I could hear her words as she spoke.  I don't know what started their conversation, but she simply told her husband that it seemed she was surrounded by women with little or no joy in their lives.  And, it was wearisome. Her statement struck a heart's string with me.  Could someone I know say that of me?  Was joy evident in my life or was I wearing people down with my countenance?  You and I both know something like this doesn't bother someone unless one is struggling with such an issue. ...

This year the boys and I took on a new project.  Ta-da!  The first ever built by us, gingerbread house.  On Friday afternoon we began our project...and completed it tonight just in time to snap a picture for Mommy & Me Monday .  We had a busy weekend, so the house and sleigh had a good time to solidify before we loaded on the icing and candy.  It was alot of fun watching the boys work together, reading the directions and making plans for what went where. A few hours, spread over two afternoons, turned into some wonderful memories.    Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

This week's photo challenge at " Home Is Where You Start From " has me pulling out a photo from a few months ago.  We were out enjoying the opporutnity to ride our bikes and play on our new driveway when Tim grabbed a handful of pinestraw and proceeded to spell out his name with it.  With snow flurries today, most of me is longing for the warmer days again (or at least enough snow to go sledding)...but everybody needs Winter to appreciate Spring.  It's a good time for some hot chocolate...enjoy the photo challenge!   

We have had alot of great memory making moments this week.  Just ordinary days being transformed into extraordinary ones moment by moment.  No great plan.  No strategy.  Nothing needed aside from time with each other to make them happen.  I like times like these.  They bring warmth to otherwise chilly, winterlike days. Take Monday, for example.  The boys both had their yearly wellness checks.  We got right in and things were going smoothly.  Then, our nurse (who has seen/known the boys since birth) hands them their specimen containers.  Deer in headlights look on both boys' faces.  It was all I could do to not simply burst into uncontrollable laughter.  I muster enough of something God given in the moment to simply smile and assure the boys it will be okay.  I kind of think they first thought they'd have to provide their samples right then and there in front of her.  One could hear the sighs of relief...

Welcome to my lazy Wednesday's walk down memory lane to Alaska.  There are so many posts I could link to about Alaska, but  today's tells a long story in a short kind of way.  There are a number of reasons that Alaska is on my mind for today's post... I had a dream last night that took me back to my very first visit to The Last Frontier.  Did that ever seem real!  The places and faces of AK are never far from my heart.  Never. I'm preparing to share about my mission trips to AK with a group of children in January.  I've gone over alot of my info again, not to mention 100's of pictures, in preparation for next month's meeting.  I do not tire of sharing about God's work in AK...it's for His glory that I do it. And, finally, maybe the main reason is the fact that I have purchased my ticket to return again next summer, if the Lord so wills.  There's a story to this ticket that is another testimony...

Saturday morning we layered up and set off for downtown Atlanta for the annual Christmas parade. We've gone to the big parade several times since the boys were born...we sometimes choose our hometown parade, but going to Atlanta at Christmastime is something special. This year things went especially smooth...found a parking garage close to the parade route; the parade began at the same moment as when we stepped to the curb; it wasn't too cold (at the beginning at least); we were at the start of the parade route with front row seats and no crowd around us; and leaving was a breeze since we were at the beginning of the parade. Lunch was at Mary Mac's following the parade...yum! It was a perfect way to spend a December morning with the family! Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

 This was my favorite group of the Atlanta parade on Saturday...the Model A Restorers of Georgia.  The cars were so fun to see and hear.  There were so many of them it was hard to take them all in as they rolled by us.  Would love to see these at a car show sometime to enjoy all the hard work put into restoring such grand cars of their day.  This was the original...I cropped out the first car (that I missed by a second's hesitation) and the person in the dark coat walking down the street.  Come join in on the fun at Home Is Where You Start From .

Needless to say, we've had alot of fun making and decorating Christmas trees this week!  Thanks to Jess @ Get Busy Living for the inspiration for the cluster of trees.   A short cute story from our week of tree trimming... I cut out Christmas trees of green construction paper for the boys to decorate with markers and glitter pens.  They then got to hang them around the school room.  Tim asked if I could make him an extra one.  He wanted a Christmas tree for his Snoopy and Woodstock friends.  So, now, behind our recliner is the Christmas tree leaning up against the wall with Snoopy, Woodstock, SpongeBob and some other "friends" gathered around it.   Is that sweet or what!?!