Review of 2008

[Doodle from Stephanie at Homegrown Hospitality]

While it's been fun to review some other blogs and their 'best posts' from the past year, I think the Lord wants me to challenge each of us to make a list of OUR blessings from 2008. Go ahead, get out a piece of paper and pencil and write down at least ten things you were blessed with during the year. It can be simple and small or big and monumental - just give it a go. Because I believe that even on the rainy days the Lord gives us blessings if we only choose to look.

Here we go, I'm blessed with:
1. A God who loves me and will never leave me -
2. A Husband who knows me completely & loves me still -
3. Children who are a joy to be with -
4. Safety during the wreck that totaled my little car -
5. A job I enjoy -
6. Income that meets our needs and then some -
7. Pets that add a little fun to our lives -
8. The ability to travel - we've made little [?] trips from coast to coast this year -
9. Extended family that we call friends -
10. The choice to choose happiness -

And I could go on & on as I'm sure you could to! Happy New Year everyone! Tomorrow I'll be talking organization [a favorite - unspoken- topic of mine.] And I plan a give away so pass the word!

Hope Your Days Were Merry & Bright

Ours were. We so enjoy visiting with family for the holidays! And when children are around you can see EVERYTHING in a new and different [and fun!] way. Here are a few favorite photos of the week [children are our neice's little boy and my brother's baby]:Of course, we love our big kids too and REALLY enjoyed having our boys home from college and having the house filled with 12 to 20 kids at any given time. We're blessed that they all feel comfortable here. The only 'problem' we've had is that both boys are sick - D went to the doctor early in the Christmas Vacation and has been on a steroid pack as well as antibiotics. He's also had an ultrasound on a nodule found on his thyroid. We expect to hear from that this week. And M has had lagging energy for a few days now [partially because he's kept crazy hours once he got home - went without sleep for 24- 48 hours a couple of different times...] So took him to the doc in the box last night and he got a steroid shot [knocked him *for-a-loop* since he'd not eaten all day] and Z-pak of antibiotics, cough meds, and breathing meds. Praying they'll both be on the mend before they head back to AUburn, sometime next week.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My Name is Judy & I'm a Responsible Pet Owner

I'm not sure how much I've shared about what we call our cat - crisis around here - I know there's at least one post about giving kittens away that was censored and never showed up lest it offend some of our asian friends.... so let's just say over the last couple of years we've had a few more litters of kittens than anyone wanted - yes, they are TOO CUTE, and yes, we've been able to give them away in less than 20 minutes while standing outside of Wal-Mart [C says the best time for this activity is mid Saturday afternoon, after the kids have finished sports, but before they're heading to birthday parties - and he should know because he's had particular quick success in the give-away process] but they are also stinky as they get older and the mamma and daddy want to teach them how to hunt and their box is filled with chipmonks, squirrels, and even a rabbit... [our cats ARE good hunters...] This is Coffee [a Lat]:Getting Coffee 'fixed' was a time consuming process [in for shots, back in 2 weeks later for boosters, then back 2 weeks later for the surgery] and with our CraZy schedule it's been VERY hard to commit to this much time. But we finally said ENOUGH is enough and started this process in the fall - and a lase, she had the final surgery on the 18th. Yippee.

Only problem, we'd not been told that she would need to 'stay up' for ten days - as in ten days 'in the house.' Since we'd already planned to have friends over during the weekend [friends who are severely allergic to cats] we knew she had to stay put in the playroom upstairs. But like any good cat who's not used to being inside, she's going a little stir crazy, so for now she has the run of the whole upstairs. We love having her near us - she is the softer and more cuddly of our two cats. But seeing as how I haven't taken Zyrtec in about a month, I'm having some issues myself - kind of sad to be allergic to the animal I love most.... and we're thinking our oldest son may be having the same issues...he goes to the doctor tomorrow...

FINALLY - I've posted some of my Daily December Album. Look to the left and click on it to see them larger. The photos aren't great - but let's face it - we haven't seen sunshine for a while here in North Alabama so I had to just break down & take them with the overhead light on my scrapbook desk.

I used a spiral album that I picked up at a discount store. I covered the front and pages using a lime green - pink - & yellow scheme. I had to add pages to get the full 31. The 'base' page were completed before Thanksgiving and I've been adding photos and little bits of memorabilia as we go through the month. And I'll probably be 'tweaking' the pages and adding ribbon / stickers/ brads/ etc. until the end.... but this is what it looks like now. I've been considering inking / painting the edges of the pages and after reviewing the photos I'm pretty sure I'll go back and do that to give it a little more definition [it's most noticeably needed on pages 8-9 to me.] Enjoy!

Join Me -

Playing with picnik again - and having some fun! The original photo is over on MK's blog...

Happy Birthday Sister

Hope you have wonderful relaxing day!

Creativity

Okay - I bought the book CS-2 for dummies and haven't even opened it! This picnik program is just sooooo easy to use for some quick playtime! Here's a couple of before and afters:

From Girlfriends in God

1 Corinthians 13 Christmas Style
©By Sharon Jaynes
If I decorate my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family - I'm just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family

- I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity,

but do not show love to my family

- It profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another home that has

coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return,

but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never fails. Video games will break; pearl necklaces will be lost; golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.

Playing with picnik again

Love this quick and easy [& free] photo program!!
It helps a great photo look even better!
I used this wonderful little photo of Mk from her parents: and cropped & popped it & blurred the edges and got this: Love it. Saved as a J-peg and printed as 5x7 for my little photo-album scrapbook.
Isn't she a cutie-pie?

Happy St. Nick's Day to ya!

[an edited repeat from last year...]

How do you feel about Santa Claus?

Pere Noel, Christkindle, Father Christmas, Kriss Kringle, Sinterklas,

St. Nicholas

I was first introduced to St. Nicholas as a freshman in college when my dear friend Grace [whose grandparents on both sides of her family came to the US from the Netherlands] put a wooden shoe, filled with candy, outside my door on December 6^th. [Still have that shoe, btw.]

I’ve loved the idea of St. Nicholas ever since!

There’s a lot of fact and folklore about him today, but most believe he was a real person and that the idea of Santa Claus came from the acts of goodwill that he did.

Here’s a link that tells his story briefly.
I’ve always wanted to have “Santa Claus” visit our boys on December 6^th and keep Christmas sacred [or, practically --at least spread out the gift-receiving a little for them], but differed to C’s wishes. So instead, for the last 22 years, our boys have always received a chocolate Santa on December 6^th. [Granted there were some years when I was out at 5 a.m. to get these Santas because of our crazy schedule! – but it was done!] This year we mailed two giant one pound versions off to college to hopefully sustain their energy through exams

So, again, Happy St. Nicholas Day to you!

At our house Santa has always been pretend.

Our boys were never taught he was real, but more just a character of the secular celebration of Christmas [kind of like Mickey Mouse – celebration of magical place] who left gifts for them on Christmas morning. They’ve always known that Mom and Day were “Santa.” We’ve had a few Santa photos through the years [we have those Mickey ones too!] and we’ve had fun with it, but have always, always tried to help our boys see that
Jesus truly is the reason we have anything at all to celebrate in this life.
We hope that in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Season you can take the time to see a tiny baby lying in a manger who died so we might live eternally.
What a hope we have because of Him!

Daily December Album

So, many of my ‘on-line’ friends have taken the challenge of doing Ali E’s Daily December Album this month. I'm joining in too! The challenge is to document something special and ordinary about each day of the month. [One photo + words is all it takes.] Ideally, the basics of the album should be completed ahead of time, but anyone can join in this week and do a simple page each day. There’s several groups set-up on-line to share [Flicker, Yahoo, etc.] I plan to share a little each week as we go through the month -