HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! HAPPY 2010 !!! I pray blessings over my family and friends for this new year. Lord help me to be a light to all those who are in darkness. Holy Spirit continue to guide me into truth and righteousness. Father God, I love you and thank you for life, abundant life and freedom to live through Christ Jesus. I thank you for salvation, and for freedom from religious bondages and from the enemy's attacks. I thank you Lord Jesus for taking my penalty for me and for mending my relationship with God. I thank you for loving me when I am not lovable. I ask that you help me to forgive this year all those who have deeply wounded me and that I may be set free. I ask that you help me to fulfill YOUR purpose for me this year and do your work to promote the Kingdom of God. I thank you for my three gifts Kyle, Brianna and Christian. I ask that you protect them daily and keep them under your wing. Your JOY Lord is my strength......I will have a JOYFUL life in the name of JESUS !!! AMEN.

So I thoroughly enjoyed another visit to my friend Kathies home on Monday. I arrived around noon and was fed a delicious lunch and then her daughter Sarah and I got busy making an apron. I couldn't use my sewing machine since it's broken (and not a very good one), so Sarah allowed me to make my apron using hers. She is a very patient and kind teacher. We downed an entire pot of good hot coffee first and then got sew happy !!

Kathie got a quick cooking lesson in also !! She taught me a very simple and Oh so tasty recipe for fried chicken from Paula Dean. It was really good. She may not think she is a good teacher but she really is very explanatory and makes sure I understand the process.

Brianna and Christian just made themselves at home playing and oddly enough Christian even tucked himself in on their comfy couch for an afternoon nap.

When the apron was just about complete we all packed into two vans and headed out to the Amish Bent and Dent store. Unique. No lights....and it was on the edge of evening so it was getting dark in the store. I used the light from my cell phone to light up some of the merchandise to read the labels. Cute store with a lot of variety. Some prices were much lower than walmart and some were same or higher. Thank goodness they had gas heat, that felt very nice on a cold day.
After making our purchases we were headed back home to finish up our sewing project. I think it came out beautiful !! How exciting !! With the help of Sarah, I made my own apron. I am excited to make my daughter a matching one as soon as I can get another sewing machine that works.


Tuesday I spent about 7 or 8 hours cleaning my house. Only got two loads of laundry done and the living room/dining room area cleaned. Oh and one bathroom. Just a very long day of hard work.

Wednesday I was in a lot of pain. Must be the wet weather headed our way. Didn't accomplish much at all. Just basic caretaking of the children and Brianna had a friend over for the day.
The kids did some baking today. Christian used their new mixer and loved it and Brianna and Raquel made some real cupcakes..... yummy.



This evening I made the chicken that Kathie taught me and IT TURNED OUT GREAT !!! Thank you Kathie for being so kind as to teach me how to cook good tasting meals for my family. I truly appreciate it.

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I felt like I had a fever tonight. Just not feeling great. I hate pain days......maybe tomorrow will be better.

Be Blessed !!

Well it happened fast...but another wonderful Christmas has come and gone. Life seems to be speeding up to me but I can't understand why.... I was so not prepared for Christmas this year but it comes whether we are ready or not....lol I had all my gifts purchased for the kids...but not for other family or friends. Those presents were definately a work in progress.



Here is our beautiful real Christmas tree with all the presents under it. We snuck down just after Santa left and got a photo !!

So we got to bed around 2am....Christmas morning and the kids woke up around 8am. I got plenty of sleep and was well rested. I ran down first to get the video camera going and then they came a runnin' and boy did their faces light up when they saw the sight !! I love this moment more than anything. That excitement. It is short lived however and then the mess begins. I struggle with the mess but have gotten way better over the years at relaxing and knowing that the trash can all be picked up and it will not stay that way forever. LET IT GO. They had lots of fun opening gifts and then Kyle opened his ONE gift. A laptop. First time in my life I only had ONE package for him to open. It kills me but at the price of his laptop it just had to be that way. He was so happy to have a nice NEW laptop. His father had bought him a used or remade one years ago but it broke. He really needed this for college so it was practical.

Here is Kyle checking out his new laptop......and Brianna and Christian playing with the new Batman Cave .....daddy is in the background playing his new game...it's a handheld game. He got two. He loves them. He also got some new pajamas and work pants. I got new underwear, slippers and a heating blanket. That is my greatest gift since we have no heat in the room that I sleep. That keeps me so cozy and warm.

Here is a nice baby doll that Brianna got. She loves her. She makes very realistic sounds and drinks and goes potty too !! Makes her feel like a real mommy. She LOVES to play mommy. We call it playing neighbor cuz she is always my next door neighbor and comes to visit carrying her little ones. I love her imagination.

The gifts were nice.....everyone had a nice relaxing day at HOME !! I baked a ham which for some odd reason came out PERFECT. It was so delicious that Jimmy commented several times about it. I made that with mashed potatoes and corn and some bisquits. A great day for us. I LOVE BEING AT HOME. We got sleet and freezing rain so it was nice to stay in and watch kids play with toys all day. The following day we drove to Baltimore to spend time with Jimmy's family. A two hour drive. The fog was extremely thick. Thank God we made it there and home safely. We ate a great meal and spent a full day there laughing, talking and then watching little ones open presents. We left around 10 or 11 I guess so thats why I was really tired this morning in Sunday School at 9am after getting home after midnight, but God woke me up so I went!!! Glad I did. I came home from church......we had leftover ham and watched the Steelers beat the Ravens.....and then I took a two hour nap.....that I really needed badly. Then I got up and put the finishing touches on some gifts that I still need to hand out. Now the family is watching a really strange movie called G Force. It is really weird. So I used this time wisely to blog. Time to go to bed....off to the Landmann's tomorrow for lunch, some sewing and possibly and fried chicken cooking lesson !!! LIFE IS GOOD.

Be blessed !!

Well my dreams for a white Christmas have come true !! Friday we began hearing reports of a rather large snowstorm headed toward our area. I was more than excited. I was not feeling well at all Friday so I laid in my chair most of the day before I forced myself up to make a trip to Walmart for food. Glad I did cuz the storm was a whopper. Got home unpacked food, and to my delight I got an unexpected visitor named Sarah who offered to come over and help me prepare meals for the snowstorm !! That was really nice. We had a fun time in my very small kitchen cooking up a storm. She gave me step by step instructions on making stuffed shells and homemade beefaroni. I think she should REALLY have her own show. She is personality plus !!We let Brianna do a lot of the work and she loved every minute of it. We also made up a Tastefully Simple dip and devoured it with some chips. The storm was getting really bad and when Sarah left I was concerned. She did end up getting stuck but thankfully her father came to her rescue.

Saturday we had a family day enjoying each other and watching the snow fall all day. It is so beautiful and bright with all the snow. I prepared a nice hot breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage and toast and after eating, I took the kids out in the snow for a while. It was really windy and we were in a blizzard status so we were not out long. The dogs love the snow....they get really excited to jump around and run in it. Brianna and Christian would stay out in the snow all day if I let them. Jimmy can't work in the weather so it's nice to have him home with us.

Saturday we enjoyed the good food that Sarah had prepared and boy was it delicious. Jimmy had double servings of each.....and he loved it. In the late afternoon I prepared a big pot of chicken and rice soup which turned out great and was really tasty but when it came to seconds......the rice had gotten mushy. Oh well.....practice makes perfect i guess. Saturday evening we watched some tv and played with the kids.

Sunday morning......no church due to cancellation for weather. We sang a couple songs and read a little out of the Bible. Jimmy made a great big breakfast and then he cleaned the entire kitchen up for me.......I love that. We watched some tv and then got into the bundling up mode. That took some time....for sure. Once we were all puffy and warm, we headed out for snow fun. First we cleared the vehicles off and then threw some snowballs around and next came the sledding fun. We have just a very small hill off our driveway which is the perfect size for little ones. Jimmy and I rode down together to pack it down. The kids had so much fun on it. It's gives me so much joy to see them laugh and smile. After about an hour their hands were frozen so inside we went. Stripped down just inside the front door and went down in the family room to get heat from the pellet stove. Oh that feels so good. Laid around most of the day watching football and eating stuffed shells. Had a couple very quick visits from Kyle. He looked good. I miss him so much. I am really sleepy now...so I am going to jump into bed and hopefully get some shopping done tomorrow just to finish up !!

Be Blessed !!

Today was a super productive day for me. My body felt really good this morning so I got a lot done. Praise the Lord for that. I washed up all of Kyle's dirty laundry, did school with Bri, went through the kids toy area and bagged up toys they no longer play with to give away. I organized the messy toy area the best I could, did dishes, made a nice chicken dinner and tried to make au gratin potatoes but of course they came out yucky. I still ate them but they could have been much better.

This evening Kyle walked in and shocked me cuz he was wearing his dress blues. What a gorgeous child of God he is. A sharp dressed man. I made him pose near tree and snapped a quick photo with kids before he ran back out the door to see Caroline.

When Jimmy got home we ate, and then watched a cute movie called Gooby and made popcorn in our new machine. They love watching it pop. Now its time for me to retire so I can get up early and do grocery shopping and finish working on this house.

Be Blessed !!

So it's been a bit busy and I am finally settling down to the laptop to write down a few things. Today I had to run around and do a few freecycle pickups which turned out to be really great for me. The first pick up was a box of recipe cards. Betty Crocker !! Couldn't believe it....but this lady gave away a really nice box FILLED with wonderful recipes. They are really old from maybe 70's or 80' s but I don't mind. The box was even really nice.

So after picking up this great free gift we were off to the Dodge Dealership in Lexington Park to have my oil changed. The kids have fun there in the waiting room and I always enjoy a nice free cup of hot coffee. Jeff Thew is my service manager and they are excellent there. Always so friendly and helpful.

Next stop was off of Chancellors Run Road to pick up a (pooper scooper)...lol I had one before but Kaci chewed it up. So this one is really nice. A savings of 25 dollars !! I am so blessed. I love freecycle. I put our easy bake oven on Freecycle today and got no hits.....thats really odd. I will re offer again soon.

Tomorrow we are getting up around 5 am to leave for North Carolina to pick Kyle up and bring him home. He is at Camp Johnson down in the south end of NC and it's going to be about a 6 hour drive. UGH !! Well actually for us in the van it is going to be a 12 hour trip since we are only going to pick him up and come right home. What a long day but so worth it to bring my son home for Christmas !! Here is a picture of us before he left. I think he will be here till Jan 3rd.

I love my boy. He was not supposed to be coming home for Christmas but God is awesome and made a way for his class to be backed up which created an opportunity for the Marines to allow a bunch of these young men to go home and be with family for the holidays. What a mighty God we serve.

A friend of mine gave me a gift today. Her name is Dawn. I was so suprised to see this beautiful ornament for the Marine Corp. So nice and thoughtful of her and it was a great addition to our Christmas Tree !!

Lastly, the other day me and Brianna saw this video on you tube which cracked us up. We watched it over and over.....he is too cute. He is playing a ukelele. And he plays very well. He just doesn't speak any english so it's just really hilarious to watch him. You must find this on the web and take a look or two. He has several videos online....so just pick one and enjoy !!

Well pray for our safe travels tomorrow and be blessed !!

Well today was a very frigid Saturday and it was nice to be able to stay in all day. Even though my joints were hurting I managed to do one load of laundry, clean the kitchen and make spaghetti sauce, and then I made homemade garlic bread in my Breadman machine. I couldn't wait to make a loaf of bread cuz I found a wooden bread slicer rack at the Hooks and Hangers Thrift Store on Thursday evening. Kathie had one at her house and I was completely unaware of what they were used for. Now I know. She mentioned that she got hers at the thrift store so I stopped in there with the main goal of finding one and GOD is so GOOD !! I found a nice little wooden one with a cute message on the front !!!! Here is a photo of it.

Isn't that neat !! The garlic bread didn't come out so great...but that's the story of my life.

After Jimmy got home and after we ate dinner I ran out to Target to get a few more gifts for Christmas and boy has that store changed for the worse. The toy area was horrible. Hardly any toys and they were out of order and just a mess. I have never seen OUR Target look that way.
Not much variety in toys either. They used to have a wonderful toy section. I guess when they moved the food sections in they reduced the amount of toys they would stock.

I am so glad to be home in a warm and comfy place with my family......I wanted to work on this early cuz I really need to be in bed soon if I am going to be at my Sunday School class on time.

Brianna will be in the Christmas Program again tomorrow morning and I will get to see her sing with the Childrens church !! She did well Friday night and hopefully tomorrow will be great also.

Be Blessed !!