Go. Be. Do.

The tree came down today...well, earlier, on the 31st...it's always a bittersweet moment when the lights give off their last minutes of twinkling joy.   Happy New Year!

Enjoyed watching the sun rise into the sky while leaving Florida this morning.   I am reminded me that in saying hello to one thing, I must also, in turn, say goodbye to another at the same time.   Thinking of this in terms of places and things, it's so much easier than with people.  I always think and believe that I have pep talked myself into being "ready" to say goodbye.  Practice it; go over how I think it could or should go in my head, and still fall apart in the end. I am not a fan of goodbyes.  Life happens and people change.  Some things just do not happen the way I think it should some times.   2 Corinthians 5:17 even speaks of the going and coming of things... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 2012 has been a year to find peace with and enjoy being free from things that have held me back or tied up my time previously.  A year to f...

Vero Beach, FL

Picture = 1000 words

Late on the posting, but there is a great excuse for it! :)

Merry Christmas! The boys woke up around 6 and the Christmas morning activity began a few minutes later.  It is such fun to watch them enjoy the moments of discovering what is under the festive paper and bows!  Here they are about to open their stocking stuffers after the under the tree presents were already opened, hence the hats.  Well, I had an epic camera failure this morning...all the photos I took with my camera were not there when I downloaded them to my laptop.  Apparently we had a memory card issue.  Thankfully, I had also taken a few with my phone.  I am also thankful it was captured on our video camera.  But, there is still a little disappointment and lack of trust in my camera now...hopefully, it was an isolated case.  Everyone is enjoying their presents now and breakfast is being cooked up.  It has been a great beginning to our Christmas Day!

Unwrapping a present from Grandma and Grandpa Roth... A trampoline! Bring on the bouncing...better brace myself for what may follow... :)

Presents were dropped off today for our extended family Christmas tomorrow.  Boys have taken on the responsibility of guarding the presents through the night hours.  It's not in the picture, but Tim even has his policeman's hat beside him.  Love these boys!

All was calm...

It's the first day of winter, but the only snowflakes found here are of the crafted variety...

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...so we are enjoying the first fire of the season.

Live mistletoe, in fact, growing in one of our trees. I'm going to miss this next Christmas.  Hopefully we will find some mistletoe at our new property, too!

Tim's 9th Birthday Breakfast... He has been a joy all 9 years!  Love my Baby...and am so proud of the little man he's growing into these days.

My boys are held a little closer and tighter...finding joy in each moment!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s One and Only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”    John 3:16-21

This is what came in the prettiest bag at our SS class Christmas party... As for the rest of the evening's activities and gifts, we are all under a "what happens at the party, stays at the party" agreement.

For our church dinner last evening I made Rice Krispies treats  ornaments.  I saw how cute they were on Pinterest and just wanted to make the ordinary a little less ordinary and a lot more Christmas-y. Fortunately, we had a few leftover, so I snapped a photo of them for today's entry. Now, for some reason, they look cuter in the photo than in person. I made smaller ornaments than the Pinterest post, getting 23-24 ornaments from the normal Rice Krispies Treats recipe.  Since mine were smaller I chose to use miniature marshmallows as the ornament hanger thingamajig.  I also used green and red (red bulb is not visible in this shot) food coloring in the marshmallow goo before adding the crispy rice cereal. They weren't hard to make, but very time consuming.  And, I did not like how firm the treats were in the end.  Too hard for my liking...I like gooey, stretchy treats.  By my third batch, the ones without food coloring, I had a better end result...

The "free" pecans are costing me a lot of time...I might have them all shelled out by next November when the next crop is ready.  {smile}

The boys did not want to take down their Easter bunnies in the classroom, so we dressed them up for Christmas.

In a drought, a rainy day is very welcome.