Happy end of 2007

I am just getting to the day that I think about the past year and get ready to say goodbye to 2007. I always feel a little nastalgic when it comes to the end of the year. I like the opportunity to start over with the new year. I usually mess up my good intentions by 3 o'clock on New Years Day, but at least it is a clean slate for a few hours. As I look at this past year I will remember it with fondness as I became a grandmother! It has been one of the best feelings I have ever had. I got to take a trip with Emily to visit my parents. Tom and I got to take Sheila, Andrew and Olivia to see my parents.(very cool) I quit my job of 14 years and took a chance to try something new.(Big change for me who sometimes does not like change) I experienced having Alisha, our college grad come home and live with us after a year of empty nest. This is a really big challenge sometimes. I still havent figured my role in this yet. I have spent a lot of the past months not feeling 100%. I dont know what the problem is. Some of it is hormonal for sure. Ya ya.... I am hitting that menapausel erra and not liking it too well. (enough of that) As I reflect on the year 2007 I once again must confess that I am so wonderfully blessed and can never thank God enough for all He has done for me. I dont know what 2008 will bring but I know that God is faithful in everything.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Romans 15.13

And a merry Christmas it was

I had a wonderful Christmas with all those I love in Charlotte!

Holiday Hoopla

I've been tagged for Holiday Hoopla whatever that is so I have to name 12 random things about Christmas. If you are reading this you have to do it too and tag someone else. Here goes.......
1. I love Christmas.....I hate Christmas....
2. I will clarify #1 I love what Christmas means(Jesus coming as a baby to earth) I love the family time, the songs and the wonder of the time. I hate the commercialism, the greediness, the crowds, the stress of getting everything done.
3. As a child I was deathly afraid of Santa. If I saw him coming I would freeze, hide or whatever to get away from him.
4. I make a ton of christmas cookies and many people like them very much.
5. I very much enjoy the scent of a fresh pine tree in the house.
6. I would rather give a gift and enjoy the person opening it rather than get a gift. Although I do love to get gifts too.
7. My favorite gift ever was a 2 liter of soda and a pint of sherbet. I come from a large family and gifts from parents were not huge. I just remember the year we each got a gift and our own bottle of POP (as we call it up north) and pint of sherbet. It was such a neat gift when I was around 8 years old.
8. My most embarrasing moment for christmas was when my gift from my parents was a scratchy ugly orange sweater and a pair of mittens. I was thinking to myself "what are my parents thinking giving me this as my gift for the year". I had a real attitude. I think I was about 12. My mom knew because my face betrayed my disappointment and she told me to put my hands in the mittens. I did it and behold there was $20.00 in the gloves! A lot of money back then. I felt sooooo ashamed! I have tried since to have a better attitude about what I get. Maybe that's why I like to give better.(I dont want my reaction to a gift to hurt anyone)see #6
9. I am married to a man that I used to call Mr. Christmas. He loved everything about it with the girls when they were little. He still loves it but I think sometimes he still wishes our girls were little and he could do the whole santa thing and all the trimmings and get excited about it.
10. My favorite Christmas hymn is O come all ye faithful. I love the part about O come let us adore Him.
11. I love sappy christmas movies and love to see new ones every year no matter how cheesy they are.
12. Tom and I started a christmas tradition our first year together for Christmas and I would have never thought it would be such a big deal but it is. We have pizza for our Christmas eve dinner. It has expanded over the years but it started out with Tom and I having french bread pizza, and to this year 28 years later we have had pizza and something every Chrismas eve.

Cookies for Christmas

Cookies......How is that there is such a thing as Christmas cookies? I dont know, but I do know that 26 years ago my friend Cathy and I started this grand idea that we would make all these different recipes of cookies and candy. Then we would give them as gifts to family and friends. This worked great for the first few years as we were both stay at home moms and it was fun to do it together. People LOVED getting the home baked goods. It felt as if we were giving a wonderful gift of ourselves. As the years have passed I have still kept the tradition alive. I still make a lot of cookies but not quite as many as I used to. Cathy and I do not do them together anymore. We both started working after our kids got older. It got harder and harder to fit making the cookies in before Christmas. Every year I think "I am not doing it this year" and then I buy the ingredients. My family looks forward to eating the cookies around the tree during the season and of course on Christmas. It has become a tradition that Tom complains that I make these cookies and give them to everyone and he gets none. I think I may just make them now so that we can play that game. He does get cookies!! We had a plate the other night while we watched a Christmas movie. Something about it is so tasty and wonderful. I guess there is something to Christmas cookies that make them special.

I also had the joy of sending a plate with Alisha to take to Roxboro for all my girls and Andrew to eat as they had a weekend together. The thought that they were continuing the tradition of being together and eating my cookies around the Christmas tree gives me great joy. Maybe someday my grandchildren will talk about grandma's wonderful Christmas cookies. I guess I will have to keep making them for now. They do bring me joy in so many ways.

Merry Christmas

Is there anything more exciting than Christmas! Everything about it gives me an excitment that isnt there the rest of the year. I know that we do alot of unnecessary things to celebrate Jesus birth, but all of it is to worship the King of kings. Who else deserves a party like we throw on Christmas? No one here, but certainly Jesus does deserve all that we can give.

O come let us adore Him

I have finally gotten into the Christmas spirit and started listening to all the songs regarding the celebration. One song that strikes me as a wonderful worship song is "O come let us adore Him". Do we adore Him? I do at moments when I really wrap my brain around who God is and what he has done for me, but those moments are short and few. Even in a worship service at church I am distracted and give God less than my best. I consider myself a strong christian with godly morals and values. I pray to God everyday and regard Him as Lord of my life. I read my Bible ....but I am not sure that I adore Him as I should. When I analyze my life(as I am sure that everyone does) I have to say I can see God's hand in it all. In my childhood, my young adult life, my move to North Carolina, my marriage to Tom, my children, my church, my friends, my job. There is nothing in which I do not see that God has moved for His glory and my good. He deserves my praise!

Do I adore Him? YES Do I adore Him as often as I should? NO Do you? For this season of Christmas I for one am going to try to Adore Him as I ought.

O Come All Ye Faithful
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

O Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing all that hear in heaven God's holy word.
Give to our Father glory in the Highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Lamentations 3:22-23

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

Happy after Thanksgiving

I just want to say that I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. I was with those I love, we ate well, we talked of what we are thankful to the Lord for. We played games, ate pie and had coffee. Then we ate some more and played with Olivia and on and on and on. What a wonderful weekend.

Holidays

OK........I finally feel like the holidays are upon us and I for one and getting excited about Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite days of the year. It is layed back and I love sleeping in and smelling the food that Tom is preparing for our Thanksgiving meal. This year we have a little granddaughter to add to the fun of the day and another huge reason for being thankful. I love our family being together and the friends that come over. I also love the sale ads. It is exciting and I love the thought of being thankful. THANKS GOD!

Family and Time

This weekend our girls all came home for a family picture we wanted to have done to send out in Christmas cards. It took alot of planning just to get a date that we could all come together and smile for the camera. Finally with some finageling(I dont know if that is spelled right) we came up with November 10th. Tom and I planned our meals and arranged times for friends who haven't seen Olivia to come and see her. It was a glorious time. The pictures went well and pretty quick and painless. They turned out good and we enjoyed our time together as a family. More and more I realize how much that time means to us as only Alisha lives at home, and we basically need an appointment with her as she stays so busy. It is so sweet to have our girls hang out and talk and tease each other and encourage each other. They tease Andrew as though he has been a part of the family forever. He truly is the other half of Sheila. We are entertained now by just watching and playing with Olivia. We don't even need TV! When talking about Christmas and what we want, the only thing Tom and I could ask for and truly mean it, was that we just be able to all be together. I love being with my kids and with our sweet,adorable Olivia. Time truly is a gift. And putting that in a spiritual perspective.... are we giving our Lord the gift of our time. He wants to spend time with us. There is nothing else He would rather have.

Fall

Today was one of those fun times with my husband. You would think we took a cool trip or went somewhere fancy to eat or went to a movie. No ...... none of those are true. We took a walk and then blew leaves from our lawn into piles and put them in bags for the recycle truck next week. It was a sunny cool day and I just loved it. It brought back lots of memories about when the girls were little and would help us and then we would push them in the piles or we would bury them up to their necks. Today it was just Tom and I and I did not push him in the leaves and he did not push me. I jumped in one myself but we are getting older and the thought of hitting something hard with our bodies isnt fun. So I guess the saying really is true....."the best things in life are free"!

MANY GOOD THINGS

I read in my devotions this morning about how God has put boundaries on the sea. Using the sand to do this. Jeremiah 5:22-25. (Look it up it's awesome) I was intrieged by verse 25 as it says your sins have kept you from many good things. The whole passage is interesting. God has boundaries for everything. Evil coming against us has limits as God instructs. Storms that we go through are only going to last for as long as God allows. He is in control of all things and He has a reason for us to be going through hard times or trials. But we can be assured that they cannot exceed God's boundaries just as the sea which is massive cannot go beyond the sand unless God gives it permission. God has blessed us with so many good things in our lives. Do we honor and respect Him? Are we living within the boundaries God has given us? If not, then God will notice and withhold blessings. If we do, God will give us many good things. ( I want good things from God, Don't you?)

Happy Halloween

BOO!!!!!

Fear

So I was driving back to work from my lunch yesterday and I saw and accident right in front of me. A girl was turning left out of a shopping center and a few cars in front of me they stopped to let her go to turn left, as she was turning she forgot to look at the second lane and a guy had no idea she was turning and kept driving and she t-boned him. It was so emotional for me. As Alisha was just in a collision last week and it has been such a hard thing for me to feel like she's safe. After I saw this accident so closely and was so emotional about it, I realized that I have no control over anything! I KNOW that God is in control but I am still trying to control so many things in my life. (It was an epiphany for me.) I have given my life to Christ. He is in control and I can trust Him. It doesnt mean things will always be easy and good, but He has my best interest at heart. I immediately had peace that passes my understanding. No more letting fear control me. God is in control and He loves me.

Life changing moments

Alisha was in a car accident this weekend. The whole situation makes me think about life and how each moment can change the next forever. How interesting that this is true but we dont really think about it as we travel along our life's road until we come to some kind of set back or tragedy. Yes, her car was demolished and it has created issues and financial setbacks for her and us.....but when you look at it compared to her life, it just isnt such a big deal. You hear of accidents everyday, some not so bad ,some fatal. It is just not a life changing moment until it happens to someone you know. Alisha could have been killed. She could have broken bones. She could have had internal damage to her body and been hospitalized for weeks. She could have hurt someone in the other car. The list goes on and on. I know that God protected her and all this is for a purpose that we dont understand. God orchestrates our lives that everything may bring Him glory. That is a pretty amazing thought.

A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Joy

The Joy on Alisha's face is so evident. I think that all born again believers should look and feel like this all the time. Oh that we would, huh?!!

A day of sunshine

A day of sunshine and I am not talking about the sun in the sky but the sunshine in my granddaughters smile and eyes. Tom and I took a day trip to see her yesterday. We were having Olivia withdrawls as we had not seen her in almost a month. A 3 month old changes a lot in a month. We just had to see her. ( We also were excited to see Sheila too of course.) We went for a walk, to lunch, hung out and had dinner together. It was a wonderful day. Being a grandparent changes your actions just a bit, whereas we used to take a Burger skip day to go to the mountains and see the leaves and have lunch, now our choice is the little town of Roxboro to see a beautiful smile just for us. Of the two choices that smile wins every time.

coffee

What makes coffee so special to some people every day. There was a time when I wasnt a coffee drinker, but I always appreciated the smell of it. When I was a young girl my mom would drink coffee pretty regularly but hers was usually instant and not quite as wonderful as when we would have a party at our house and she would make real coffee with a perculator. The smell was amazing. I also remember dipping toast or cookies in her coffee. (She let me) It was soooo good to me. Some times I would dip it too long and the cookie would fall off into her coffee. It didnt matter she never got mad at me. As an adult I never had coffee until, as a stay-at- home mom I would get together with girlfriends and their kids every two weeks and we would hang out and eat. One particular day it was kinds rainy and chilly and we had cookies that were homemade and we made coffee and it just warmed me to the core and I loved it. I was hooked from that day on. Not everyday but at parties in the evening, I would love coffee with my dessert. Or with my Tom sitting around in the evening we would have decaf coffee with creamer. I have to have cream and sugar and particularly flavored creamer.
As I began to work more outside the home we started making coffee at work. I started looking forward to going to work in the morning just so I could have my special little cup of coffee with creamer. I would reheat it many times because I dont like cold or lukewarm coffee, but just holding it in my hands and feeling the warmth of it gives me a WARM FUZZY!
With the coffee craze in the world today, I fit right in. Gloria Jeans was Tom and my favorite, but since they are no longer in this area we have given our loyalty to Caribou Coffee. White chocolate mocha decaf is my favorite. My girls even managed to get me hooked on the coffee coolers in the summer. I do always seem to get a brain freeze with the coolers though.....they are very addicting. I guess I am a bit addicted to coffee, but I guess there worse things I could be doing!

Get aways

We went to Boone for homecoming at App state this weekend. We had a good time. The weather was actually very warm and beautiful. We had great seats at the game thanks to Richard Campbell's parents. "Thanks Emily and Richard for making that happen"! Alisha was this past years homecoming queen so she was in the parade and out on the field at halftime. It's always fun to see your daughter being applauded. We swam at the pool the night before at the hotel and hung out with Emily and Alisha and Richard. We got to eat dinner after the game with them too. It was a fun get away and the only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Andrew, Sheila and Olivia with us. I love weekend get aways.

Proud

I am a proud mom. I think about my girls alot. To me they are the best, most beautiful, creative, funniest, loving, caring, compassionate girls I know. I may be a bit bias, but I could not have picked greater girls myself if I'd gone to a store,and chose. God has been so good to Tom and I in giving us three of the best. They have made their mom and dad proud and continue to do so by their choices and paths they are choosing. They made parenting easy and make us look good when we have not done very much in making them who they are. It is all God.

Sheila is a wife, teacher, and recently, stay at home mom. She is adjusting to one income and learning how to pour her life into the precious gift God has given her and Andrew, Olivia Grace. It has been a pleasure to see how wonderful of a mom she is becoming. She is so patient and willing to give up so much to stay home. She loves Olivia passionately and wants her to grow up to be a woman of God. She is trying to figure out how to save money and make money without giving up too much of her time with Olivia. She is so talented that I know God will show her what she needs to do and will bless her abundantly.

Alisha is a recent college graduate and new second grade teacher. She had a tough summer wondering if she would ever get a job and trying to remind herself that God is in control and He will provide for her. Well He did and in a big way. She landed a second grade job at a wonderful school, with very supportive staff. She loves it. When she shares with me about teaching and her class, I can see the passion in her eyes. Not only that, she has incorporated her faith in her teaching and I am so amazed at the way God has gifted her in ministering to these kids in a public school. The kids in Ms. Burger's class are so blessed. They hit the jackpot! She is living at home with Tom and I right now and we love it. She is so respectful of us and fun to hang out with. We will miss her when she gets her own place. Some day there is a man who will sweep her off her feet and boy is he going to be blessed.

Emily is our baby and she is so special to us. She is in her second year of college and is doing very well. She is a good student and such a wonderfully refreshing personality. She is growing up to be a beautiful woman of God who has not even begun to discover her leadership qualities that will cause many to look to her for wisdom and direction. She has strong convictions but is such a caring,loving girl. She is my cutie. She is a RA in her dorm this year and I know the girls on her floor are loving having her as their leader. I am quite certain that God has a marvelous future in store for her......who knows which direction God will lead but it is going to be marvelous to watch it unfold.

So that is my blog today. I am a blessed woman with three now grown girls that I call my friends.