The tree is still up and decorated. The other decorations are in place. Nothing has been put away yet.
I will have Christmas music playing all day... and I have a Christmas Movie ready to put in the DVD player. We are celebrating again with our Warrior!
The family is coming and the ham is ready to be put in the oven. The presents are wrapped and the stocking is stuffed!
I can hardly wait. (Pictures will be posted later...)
We just get to double dip this year :)
Here we are at the beginning of Thanksgiving Holidays.
I am struggling to write a post.
I am very thankful - I just have the multi-emotions going again.
I worded it pretty well two years ago here.
Basically, it comes to this... for 2009.
We will celebrate Thanksgiving together.
By "we" - I mean Hal and I, MawMaw and PawPaw, MaMaw, Andy, Jenifer, Aubrey and Barrett, and Brantley.
Julia and Ronnie are coming later - and will have a few days to spend with us.
Jonathan is at war again. We will be hoping for a phone call.
Only a mom who has worn these shoes knows how they feel.
Words are few these days. Hence the lack of blogging.
Prayers are continuous...
What a wonderful Easter Celebration we had...
We had two services this morning at our church. This was the first time for us. Our choir and praise team were real ministers through music today. The praise team had to be there at 6:45, and the choir came at 7:30. Ready to lead the body in worship at the 8:00 service, and then again at the 10:15 service.
Good music, Sweet Spirit, Wonderful Message from God's Word... and then the most precious part... four people made decisions for salvation and following the Lord in Believer's Baptism.
Can I just say GLORY? !!!
It just doesn't get much better than that.
And then....
The family gathers at our home for a wonderful meal together...
Of course we have to take family photos in the front yard...
And then this year we added the fun of hiding eggs with Aubrey ( a very short session I might add). She really liked making bubbles and chasing them much more than finding eggs. :)
And after they all go to their homes - or to other family gatherings...
I was able to take a "God Ordained" Sunday afternoon nap.
Blessed... Beyond Measure...
So following the video about Good Friday...
I just had to add this one .... I hope you enjoy :)
Like I posted last year we always had a Galilean Meal on Friday morning...
I miss it. Maybe when the Grandbabies get old enough... they can spend the night with me on Thursday ...... and we can have fish on Friday morning. (unless they have it at their house).
Regardless.... I think it is good for us to reflect on the sacrifice that Christ Jesus made for us. He paid the price for our sin. It is Friday....
Oh... but we know the rest of the story. SUNDAY IS COMING!!!
Have a blessed Easter...celebrating our Risen Lord!
I am so excited to be able to host my FIRST GIVE-AWAY!
(*** note- I will announce the winners on Monday, Dec 1st***)
Megan DiMaria, author of these two books, has graciously supplied two books for me to give away!
I must confess that I am not normally a "fiction" reader. But I have already finished the first book and am well on my way into the second one. Once I started reading, I could not put it down...So, I want to recommend them to you.
So, for this Thanksgiving week, I will leave this post up, and here are the details of how to register:
* Leave a comment - One register
* Tell me where you are from - One register
* Add your name (and your sweet picture) to my list of followers - One register (if you are already there - tell me so)
Looking forward to hearing from you this week - make sure I have an email address so I can contact you!
This is SO exciting!
Thanks Megan!
Oh.... and Have a Happy Thanksgiving with your precious Family!
I will have lots to share next week!
(for a listing of other give-ways see Scribbit.)
Well, Julia has already blogged about this to some degree, but I woke up this morning with our tradition on my mind.
"I should have made fish and eggs..."
So.... here is another memory of this tradition...
When we lived in Decatur, we always had Easter Dinner with Mark, Linda and Jennifer Fischer. Their family lived in Michigan, and our families were in Sylacauga. So.... we had Easter Dinner at their house. Jennifer would hide eggs with my children... Linda cooked a wonderful meal. OHHHH what precious memories. We were family. And we were together at Easter.
Then we moved to Griffin Georgia. So, they just came to Griffin for Easter. That is what families do. That was when I started this family tradition. Good Friday - we had a Galilean Meal for breakfast. And the first few years - it was not fish sticks (as Julia mentioned in her blog)- it was broiled fish with scrambled eggs, wheat or rye rolls and orange juice.
So... picture this.... I did not tell them the menu for the morning. I just got up early and began cooking and making preparations. This particular year, it was raining...so we were not able to have the camp fire outside. So, I put a large tablecloth in the middle of the living room floor and put every candle that I could find in the middle. That would be our camp fire.
Can you just see it? They begin waking up to the smell of broiled fish.... yummmmm. And as they came down the hall, there was a table cloth in the middle of the floor with about 20 candles burning in the middle. I will never forget the look on Linda's face, as she came around the corner, and asked me,"DEEDEE.... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I just politely told her that we were having a Galilean meal for breakfast. It was Good Friday.
And the tradition began.... I never wanted to get so caught up in the clothes, and the baskets, and the eggs, and the meals.... that we missed the real meaning of Easter. Now, I loved the preparations... and I loved getting the clothes and baskets and eggs and meals all ready. But that was not the point. The most important facts to remember - that our Savior suffered, and bled, and died for our sins - that his blood covers us and makes us white as snow - that the grave could not hold him - that He arose. He arose. He arose! That is the point.
And Good Friday is a good day to remember the price that He paid. Salvation is free but it is not cheap.
I want to close with a quote from Max Lucado's book, He Chose the Nails.(p 34) So, why don't you just find a large concrete spike (nail) and press it into the palm of your hand as your read this. May we never forget the price that he paid for our sins.
"What kept him from resisting? ...This tabulation of your failures. He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails.
The hand squeezing the handle was not a infantryman.
The force behind the hammer was not an angry mob.
The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews.
Jesus himself chose the nails.
So the hands of Jesus opened up. Had the soldier hesitated, Jesus himself would have swung the mallet. As a carpenter he knew what it took. And as a Savior he knew what it meant. He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his scarifice and covered by his blood.
So, Jesus himself swung the hammer.
The same hand that stilled the seas stills your guilt.
The same hand that cleansed the Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
The nail is the nail of God.
As the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you."
Good Friday.... It is about death - death on a cross. It is about life - life everlasting.
And by the way, Jonathan got on to me this morning, because Hal and I did not have a Galilean meal for breakfast. So we had fish tonight for supper. It was not the same...
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Celebration comes on Sunday! I have always loved the quote from Tony Campolo,
"It's Friday - but Sunday is coming!"
Just a quick little post - to tell you all what happened this morning...
We had just finished opening up all of the gifts. Paper and stuff still all over the room. And in the quietness of the moment, I said, "it would be PERFECT if Jonathan could call right now." It was only a minute (if that long) and the phone rang and IT WAS HIM. Calling from Iraq!!!! Now, how wonderful is that?
He had a 1000 minute phone card - a gift sent to him and we are so thankful! - (which in reality is only 90 international minutes from Iraq) - and I think we used the whole card. We all talked and passed the phone around. He could not be here with us... but we were able to talk to him.
Once again...so thankful for technology.... and the gifts that allow us to connect across the miles.
Blessed beyond measure!
Merry Christmas!
Often you hear people talking about multi-tasking... especially women/wives/mothers.
Well... my newest feat is MULTI-EMOTIONS. I am completely full of several at once these days. Sometimes that is why the unexpected overflow (you know how they just spill out of our eyes).
First, and most importantly, at this time of year... I am full of Thankfulness. It starts in November with Thanksgiving and just keeps going right on into December.
And as we begin to decorate the house with lots of candles and lights (and sing "Jesus, the Light of the World"), I am full of thankfulness for God sending his Son to be our Savior "Jesus,the Light of my Soul". I am thankful for the Light sent to this dark world. I am full and I sing.
As I begin to buy presents for our family and friends... I am full of thankfulness for the precious treasures that they all are in our lives and the Joy that each one brings in their own special way. I thank the Lord for the gift of Love.... it fills my heart and I sing.
As I go to church and hear the Christmas Carols from young and old alike... I am full of Thankfulness for my church family...and I sing with them.
As I make the preparations for Christmas morning...for the entire family to be together (except our Jonathan this year)... I am full of thankfulness for the provisions that we have and the precious time that will be spent together. And I sing. "Jesus, I just want to Thank-you!"
The next emotion welling up in me is excitement. I am so excited. I get excited about Christmas. The whole season. I love the decorations... and the shopping.... and even the wrapping (after it is done). I love the cooking...the candy... the songs - even the silly ones - And I especially LOVE my family coming to my house.
MawMaw and PawPaw will come on Christmas eve and spend the night. MaMaw will come on Christmas Eve and then come back on Christmas Morning. Jen, Andy, Aubrey and Emmie (their dog) will come on Christmas morning. We are hoping that Brantley will be able to come after having Christmas with her family :) And Julia and Ronnie are COMING from Virginia. They will get here on Saturday and they will stay with us until Wednesday!!!
I am so excited - what is the saying?... I am just beside myself! I can hardly wait.
I thought it was hard when I was little... I think it just gets harder. I absolutely love them all coming. We will eat breakfast at 9:00. Then we open the presents. There are stockings hanging in front of my fireplace for everyone (complete with names on them). They will be filled to the rim. (We have all been really good this year!) We will give and receive presents from each other. Our living room will be filled with paper/ribbons/boxes and of course, the presents. You will not be able to see the floor!!! We will laugh and share and give and have a wonderful time together as a family... and I AM EXCITED just thinking about it... and preparing for it. Let's see - could we sing "Over the river and through the woods to MommaDee's House we go..."
Then the next emotion that I am juggling is sadness. Even in the midst of all of the celebration and the love and the fun and the laughter and the goodness... just thinking about Jonathan not being with us makes me SO SAD. As I have posted many times already, we are so proud of him. We are so thankful for all of the troops that make the sacrifice of time away ... so that we can continue to be free. But regardless, it makes me sad. I sure hope he will be back on his base so that maybe we can have some SKYPE time and see his smiling face. But if not, maybe if he can get through, we can at least have a phone call to pass around the room. (We did that when Julia was in Germany.) It is not the same as them being with us...but it sure helps.
Oh, Jonathan, we love you and miss you so much. All the time, but especially during the holidays. You make me proud... but I am still sad.
And if I had time to write about more... there are other emotions mixed up in with these three... but these are on the top. And often overflow.
I sing... I get nervously excited... I cry. Sometimes all at the same time. I think that is MULTI-Emoting (?)
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Since it is Thanksgiving morning .... and I have not finished cooking for the day.... this will have to be short and sweet :)
But I did not want to miss this opportunity to say "We have so much to be thankful for." And especially this year... I am thankful for our freedoms. Because I have the proof that it is not free. Many have given their lives.... many have given their service... many have and are missing this day with their families - so we can continue to be free. So... with that in mind - I want to say THANK YOU. Thank you to Jonathan. Thank you to Co Company, 1-167 INF, 4th Alabama National Guard. Thank you to all of the many others who are celebrating this Thanksgiving Day away from your family in service to our country.
Jonathan, You are missed greatly - every day - but especially on this holiday. You are loved. You are prayed for - constantly. You have made us all so proud. We can hardly wait for you to come home - but today - We just are hoping for some time on SKYPE :) - to see your smiling face.
And for the list of what else I am thankful for... My Savior. My husband. The rest of my precious family-all of them. My Church family. My home. My friends. And I could go on with many more ....
but......My kitchen is calling me - I really have to go cook lunch.
Much to do...
Have a blessed day!
(oh... and I am soooooo thankful for my BLACKBERRY phone that keeps me in contact with Jonathan!!!) - seriously!
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