Giving It a Try!!!

I'm in a big need of organizing my life. This sounds like a great opportunity to get me motivated and on track!

I love the prospect of a new year: new opportunities, a fresh start, a new outlook. I'll be back after the 1st-since I'm going out of town, I always consider the start of my new year when I get back home, which will be Jan 2nd. I will post my "one little word" then. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, check this out:

http://aliedwards.com/2007/01/one-little-word-3.html

It's a tie right now between two words. I'll just have to ponder on it for these next few days left of 2010. Can you believe we are beginning a new decade?! Crazy!!!

I also plan to post my list of 100 things I want to do in 2011. I did this last year and accomplished 37 things on my list. I plan to do better this next year. Wouldn't it be great if I could accomplish ALL 100 things?

I love thinking of all the possibilities this new year brings. I leave you with this:

Ring out the old,

Ring in the new.

Ring, happy bells across the snow;

The year is going, let him go.

Ring out the false,

Ring in the true.

-Lord Alfred Tennyson

It's A Wonder-Full Life

Today was our Children's Christmas production at church. It was fantastic! I have seen a few Christmas plays in my day, but I do believe this is the best I have ever seen. Cali played the character of "Joy" who was part of the choir. She did an excellent job!!! I'm so proud of her! In fact, I told her so this evening and she said, "I hate the 'I'm proud of you' talks." WHAT?! Whatever!

All of the kids in the play did a great job. Here is a picture of the whole cast:

I was happy to have all my family come to watch the play. Again, I will say...It was FANTASTIC! I'm such a proud Mama-but don't tell Cali!

This evening we had our annual Christmas dinner at church. Santa said the blessing over the meal, then he got to go through the line first so he could be available for the kids to come sit on his lap...

We had TONS of delicious food. I believe the best cooks in the world attend my church! After dinner, we had a small talent show. The kids got up and performed...some played the piano, one played the trumpet, and a few sang songs. Cali played the piano:

and then she and Tori performed, "Love Story" by Taylor Swift.

It was really good. She cracks me up because she is pretty shy, but you would never know that by seeing her perform in the play this morning and then in the talent show tonight. I love that she doesn't share my fright of the spotlight!

After the kids shared their talents, we all got to visit with Santa.

Chris and Averi rolled their eyes when I asked them to take a family pic with Santa. They knew it was a losing battle so they didn't even try to protest! My friend Kristy came up to me later and said she thanked Chris for setting the example for the other husbands (like hers) who didn't want to get their pictures made with Santa. She said that Chris told her "happy wife, happy life!" Ha! I love him!

Glimpses of God-Sunday, December 12th:

All day I have had thoughts of how thankful I am to be a part of such a wonderful church. I love that we have found a place where everyone seems just like a member of our family, where we have found our places to serve God, where we learn and grow spiritually. A place where we are loved and our kids are loved.

As I sat through the play, I thought about all the love and time that was put into this perfect, wonderful gift for our congregation. The two ladies who put it all together were so amazing with the kids. They encouraged them and loved them each step of the way. And after the play, many different members of our church came up to each of the kids and told them what a wonderful job they did.

At our dinner tonight, I looked around at all the different people interacting with one another.

The kids were all running around playing together-not in little groups or cliques, but just all together. During the talent show, they were all sitting together in a large group in front of the stage. As each of them went up to perform, the others would cheer them on when they finished. It was such a sweet moment to see honor instead of competition.

The adults were all standing around talking or sitting together in groups. Everyone mixing and mingling with one another. No one sitting alone or off to themselves...everyone feeling included, welcomed. You could sense the love felt for one another. I observed a man helping one of the elderly ladies get her plate, drink, and utensils back to her seat. And I watched a lady help a young family with 3 little boys get all their plates and drinks back to their table.

I watched a group of teen boys standing around waiting to get into the food line. A boy walked in with his mom and girlfriend and the group of boys called him over and asked him if that was his girlfriend. He said yes. And they high-fived him and told him good job!

After coming home and thinking of these different scenarios, it just made me feel proud to be a part of this. This is what God intended His church to be like: loving one another, encouraging one another, fellowshipping with one another, helping one another, praising one another, enjoying one another...things like that.

I leave you with this verse:

1 Thessalonians 5:11-

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Thanksgiving 2010

I love Thanksgiving! I love having a day to reflect on the many blessings I have been given. I try to do this every day, but, well...sometimes I just don't.

We spent the day with Chris' family. His mom made a delicious dinner. We got to visit with his brother, Scott and his family...which we usually only do on Thanksgiving. We got to enjoy relaxing and playing games, and visiting, and referring fights between our crazy dogs. It was a wonderful day!

Glimpses of God-November 25, 2010

I saw God in every thought I had of the day-my gratitude, His provisions...just the mere thought of thankfulness. I woke up and laid in bed for a moment and thought of all that I have to be thankful for. I decided that I was going to go through my whole day and thank God for all of my blessings. Here they are:

I am thankful that:

• I got to wake up in a nice, soft, warm bed.
• I have sanitary living conditions...I have a toilet, I have a shower, I have shampoo and soap, I have a toothbrush and toothpaste, and clean running water.
• We have clothes and shoes to wear.
• I only had to make one dish to take for Thanksgiving dinner and that I have a stove/oven to cook with.
• We had transportation to drive us to her home and money for gas.
• My family is all healthy and happy.
• We have a dog to love on and give us joy.
• I received texts from family and friends wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving.
• We arrived safely to enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving with Chris' family.
• We had a fabulously, delicious dinner.
• We got to spend the whole day visiting and enjoying being with family.
• My girls' got to know this side of their family a little better.
• Everyone didn't mind my picture taking obsession.
• My MIL didn't get too upset when Teddy pee'd on her carpet...just minutes before we left, I might add!
• We had a safe trip home.
• We had a home to come home to.
• We have electricity and modern conveniences.
• We live in a country that allows us to be free to worship whom we choose.
• We live in a place where we are safe and secure.
• I can go to bed knowing my children are protected and loved and fed and healthy.
• I have a husband who happily provides for us and makes it possible for me to be able to stay home and take care of my family, and that he supports me in everything that I do, and that he loves me and Averi and Cali with all of his heart.
• I have an awesome extended family and wonderful friends who love me and my family.
• I have a Heavenly Father who has incredibly blessed me and loves me beyond anything I can comprehend.
• I am healthy, and happy, and loved, and filled with gratitude!

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes that is perfect for Thanksgiving:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. -Melody Beattie

Junker

(Averi is going to kill me for posting this photo because she just got out of the bathtub and OMG!, she has no make-up on and her hair is not fixed!)

Averi has become a "junker". Today we spent the day going "junkin'". That means we went to thrift stores to check out the junk for her new venture. She has started her own business...an ebay shop where she is reselling her "junkin'" finds. Pretty ambitious, I think. Chris is helping her out on it and I think it is such a neat thing for them to do together. But I'm the one who gets to take her "junkin'"...I love that word, can't you tell?

She and Cali got to skip school today because they were at their grandma's all weekend and yes, I'm one of "those" mom's. In my defense, if they were not good students and good girl's, I wouldn't consider it. Everyone deserves a break once in awhile, right? We slept until 11:00 and then set out to find some treasures.

Averi found the chinese rice field worker hat (I'm sure there is a proper name for it, but I don't know it) she's wearing in the picture and the funky shoes. We hit up three different thrift stores in our town. I'll have to admit, I enjoy searching the junk myself. I didn't find anything to buy this time...but I'm on the lookout for a large silver platter, and old, interesting looking dishes, and old barware, and old globes. We are going to try to check some more places out this weekend. Maybe I will stumble upon some real treasures!

Glimpses of God-November 15, 2010

One of the junk shops we visited was a store that employed developmentally disabled people and the proceeds of the sales went to support programs for them. When we walked in there was a girl, maybe early 20's. She looked like she had cerebral palsy, maybe. She was in a wheel chair and her arms were kind of drawn up. She greeted us as we walked in. Then another lady who had some disability, maybe mental retardation, kept following us around asking us if we needed help, or if we were looking for anything in particular. There were several more "special" people in the back around a table playing bingo with volunteers or workers for the program.

The whole time I'm in the store I'm thinking about the limited opportunities these people have for employment, social interactions...the opportunity of just feeling like a functioning member of society. I'm currently reading, Going Rogue by Sarah Palin. And I also just kept thinking about how she told her family that her baby was going to be born with Down's Syndrome. She wrote a letter or email addressed to her family and friends telling them about Trig's disability in the voice of God and then signed it from, "Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father." The one thing that really stood out and what really had me thinking today was this ,

"Children are the most precious and promising ingredient in this mixed-up world you live in down there on Earth. Trig is no different, except he has one extra chromosome,"

And so while at this store today I thought on this...each of these people are precious. Each of them were created by God...the same God who created me. And just because they were not born "perfect"...which who in this world is???...they were created for a purpose and they deserve to live a rich and rewarding life.

It was very heart-warming to experience this. When we went to check out (this was the place were Averi bought the funky shoes), the lady who was following us around was working the cash register. They called up someone to help her out. I was so amazed with the tender way this volunteer/worker assisted. She walked her through each of the steps on the cash register and in giving us change. It was just a very enlightening experience that I saw God all over. He is the giver of life. He has a purpose for each of these special people. He has given the volunteers and workers special hearts to help give opportunities of independence and employment.

I left wanting to be a better person. I left thinking, "What can I do to help?" I left thanking God for allowing me to stumble upon this little store-not knowing what it was when I arrived. I left so touched, and with such a perfect "teachable" moment for my daughters to see that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect...and that it is our responsibility to offer something of ourselves to help these special people live rich and rewarding lives.

Something You Just Don't See Everyday...

I see this every time I drive thru Lexington, OK on my way to Asher to my MIL's. It is a VW Bug spider. That is a real, full-sized VW bug!!! It sits next to a car lot/mechanic. It used to be a VW lot...where they sold and serviced Volkswagens.

Every time I pass it, I think...I need to get a picture of that, it is too cool, and maybe it won't be there one of these days, and it is a memory of mine-seeing it every time I pass by this area." (A lot of thoughts at once, huh?) Before we approached it on our way home from picking up the girls today from Grandma's, I asked Chris to pull over and let me get a "good" pic of it. I have tried taking pictures of it before-driving by and trying to shoot the picture...that never worked. So, stopping, getting out of the car, and taking the picture was what I did today. I love that my husband is so patient with me and my obsessive picture taking. Anyways, I just wanted to share it here with you all (if there is actually anyone who reads my blog) and show you a very unique landmark in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma.

Glimpses of God-November 14, 2010

Your heart is your love,

Your love is your family,

Your family is your future,

Your future is your destiny,

Your destiny is your ambition,

Your ambition is your aspiration,

Your aspiration is your motivation,

Your motivation is your belief,

Your belief is your peace,

Your peace is your target,

Your target is your heaven.

My glimpse of God today is in the love that I share with my children. THEY are my love. THEY are my future. I feel it was my destiny to be a mom and to provide a happy, nourishing home for them. It is my ambition to provide a happy, nourishing home for them. A home where they feel loved, wanted, secure, happy. A home where they want to be. I aspire to be a loving, patient, kind, helpful, nurturing, thoughtful, respectful, positive mother to Averi and Cali. They motivate me to work at becoming a better person. My belief is that they are gifts from God...blessings that I am so unworthy of, but so ever grateful that He entrusted me with these two beautiful souls to love, cherish, teach. I am at peace that I am right where I need to be at this time in my life-at home, taking care of them and their needs. My target is to grow them into courageous, loving, spiritual, caring, passionate, helpful, kind-hearted, gracious women. I thank God for honoring me with this privilege.

BOOMER SOONER!!!!!

OU beat the tar out of Texas Tech. We always play so good at home...not so good last week at A&M or before that in Missouri. We're hoping for a good game at Baylor and of course, OSU! We had a fun time at the game. Before the game we hung out and tailgated at the rv with the gang. Tim grilled us some awesome hamburgers and some elk sausage (I'm not that adventurous, though).

Glimpses of God-November 13, 2010

My heart swelled with pride for my Oklahoma Sooners!!! Here we have 18, 19, 20 year old guys who run out the tunnel onto a field with 80,000+ screaming fans. They have cheerleaders, pom pom girls, ruf neks, sports reporters, and all kind of distractions all around them. But the majority of the team ran down to the north end zone, kneeled down, bowed their heads, and PRAYED! It was very touching!!! And I saw God completely glorified in that moment!

Then I was even further impressed when I saw the opposing team, Texas Tech, do the same...

Friends

A night out with our friends and no kids for the weekend!!!! Tim and Jodi are celebrating their 16th anniversary. Chris and I tagged along for the night. We had dinner at a place that was on my 100 list of things to do/accomplish...

(I'm on crunch time, so I'm trying to check as many things off my list before the year is up.)

We had a lovely dinner. I highly recommend the Tilapia (blackened, of course!).

After dinner we went to Riverwind Casino. That was fun! Then we stopped at Sooner Legends where Tim and I were going to karaoke, but didn't...he wasn't feeling well (thought he "had a case of THE DIABETES"-long, very funny story). So we ended the night and I got to go home with the best looking guy in the bar...

Glimpses of God-November 12, 2010

I saw God all over the place today! When I was talking about my blog, my friend, Jodi, asked me, "Are you gonna write that you saw God while sitting at the slot machine winning money." Well no, that's not really where I saw Him. But I did see Him in all the relationships that I am so privileged to be a part of.

First, my sweet Mamaw offered to ride down to Asher with me to take the girls to Chris' mom's house for the weekend. She kept me company on the looooong drive home.

And God was definitely with us when we hit a horrible rain storm and I couldn't see a thing in front of me! I had to pull over on the side of the road for a few minutes to let the rain die down a little.

God has blessed Chris and I these amazing friends. We always have so much fun together. I never laugh as much as I do when I am with these two. They are HILARIOUS!!! So God was definitely in the joy that we have while with our friends. And maybe, Jodi, God may have had a part of me winning at the slot machine!