Peace

I did enjoy my sugar cookie baking and decorating with the kids, and I enjoyed the little bit of shopping that took place around town. My responsibilities were little in comparison to what they sometimes are (you know, me escaping the busyness.)
BUT - in the time that I was trying to relax and breathe I was having a hard time. You see, Alf was terribly busy the last couple of weeks doing a number of things, one pertains to ministering to the community, in which I am very grateful for the opportunity that we have. I know for certain that it blesses us and I hope and pray that it means something to the people that were served.

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" Phil. 4:7

A verse that has been going over and over in my head like a broken record lately that sustained me during a time ...
We had a date night tonight that allowed us to connect again. I adore the restaurant we went to where it had a live band playing the Blues and it serves up some awesome New Orleans food.
This may seem a bit choppy for those that will take a minute out of there day to read this but I just wanted to say all this to express my gratitude to my husbands presence in the home, and for a God that takes care of us right were we are.

My Christmas this year

"It's beginning to look alot like Christmas, all around the world" Athan sung this line - just this line - all day last Saturday while we were all involved in decorating the house. Alf put the tree up and decorated the outside front porch. Athan helped with the ornaments. I lighted the tree (seven strands of lights this year, Im so proud of myself, It gets better every year - Alf says that Santa will not have a hard time finding us!) and Aiden helped by not touching anything and just sat and watched Polar Express (his responsibilities will be greater next year.)
Christmas is alot of fun this year. Internet shopping makes life enjoyable, the weather being a high of 40 creates a wonderful atmosphere, and sugar dough in frig ready to be rolled out to make christmas cookies - yummy
I work very hard to enjoy life. I do not thrive on busyness. Sometimes you have to roll with it and there are times when you just do all you can to escape it. I am escaping it this month and going to watch Alf roll with it till next week when he can join me.

Black Friday

['what a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man' song playing]

Yes, I have a good man! Black Friday rolls around and what does he do? Alarm goes off at 3:30 am, I hear the garage door open, and before I know it, it is 4:30 am and he is crawling back in bed and I have a kitchen aid sitting in my hallway. YEAH!!!

I have never been a Black Friday fan. Tell me, is it really worth precious sleep to save a couple of bucks? To fight major crowds to save a couple of bucks? Well, I will tell you this - When you spend Thanksgiving day with people preparing for black friday where they are looking at all the ads, talking about how early they can stand to get up in the morning - the hype travels!

In my 11 yrs of marriage, I have gone through two hand mixers that I burned out b/c I always expected them to do more then they really were capable of doing. I was down to borrowing a neighbors. When I saw the ad for the kitchen aid mixer it was love at first sight. On sale for 159, with a 30 rebate, add signing up for a Kohl's card and take off an additional 25, and for every 50 you would spend they would give you 10 Kohl's bucks. We figured it only really cost us 99! My friends, it was so worth it!! This thing normally cost 250 - I would have done it myself but it was even better that I did'nt even have to do it.

Merry Christmas to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Artist

'I want to be an artist when I grow up, momma'
That is what Athan told me a couple of weeks ago. When he was planning his 6 yr. old party (teenage mutant ninja turtle, a.k.a. TMNT), he was coloring banners and such. I came across this art work and used it for the invitations (went to Kinkos and shrunk it), and I used it for the cake (got it transfered to rice paper.)
Sooooo cool, huh?! The party was a success - high energy, karate kicking, nerf gun shooting, slime making success!
I am incredibly proud of my boy. I look forward to seeing what God will do in his life. Hopefully Alf and I will do our part and not get in the way too much:)

Update

Thanks so much for all of you praying. Once Karey had a transfusion she became a real person again! Her blood levels are continuing to go up. She is home now (Oh, home sweet home) and recovering. Amongst friends, we are taking turns visiting with her during the day so that her husband can go back to work. I was over there a couple of hours yesterday and painted her girls nails (having two boys, I think I enjoyed it more then they did:))
My dad came in town on Sunday which I am so glad. I am using him, hopefully not abusing him!

TAIL-SPIN

My life is in a tail-spin. A close friend of mine started having some abdominal pain, went to the doctor, was taken to the ER, Ultrasound, CT-scan, and then emergency surgery b/c they found internal bleeding but could not find out where it was coming from. They opened her up and still never found where it was coming from (some possibilities but nothing certain.) This all happened Tues.
Since then they have had to give her a blood transfusion. There are still alot of questions and are having to wait out alot. Her two sweet girls (who she homeschools and never usually leave her sight for more then a few hours) are being well taken care of by grandma but they deeply miss her
Please, all of you pray for Karey and her family...for stamina, for answers, for something to look forward to, for spiritual growth, for peace...You get the idea!
Thank you

I'm feelin' the love

Alf and I are not conference junkies. We never chose to invest our money in that way, and would always look at each other and say, 'we're doing o.k.' Well, we were given the chance to go this last weekend to one in town (the whole staff was treated.) Alf and I were able to have some good conversation and the information given out was good, solid info. I am not raving about the conf. but I am thankful (if you know what I mean.) The main thing I want to give more time to thinking about is how my view OF God affects my marriage. Do I fully trust Him? Is He big enough? etc.
The real reason for this post is to give a shout out to some awsome friends who love my kids and were willing to watch them for us. We are truly blessed to have the friends we have here in town, being that we don't have family close by, we really rely on each other. I left my boys with full confidence that they would be loved, taken care of, and have a good time.
Thank you guys for sacrificing your time and for caring enough, yall are awesome - and anytime you need a fixin' on your marriage, you just come talk to us professionals.