Beautiful Baby

Merry Christmas! I hope that today you are amazed by the Beautiful Baby Jesus!
I wanted to share this that I read this morning from Spurgeon...

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."-Isaiah 7:14

Let us to-day go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in Him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us notice at the very first glance His miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise ran thus, "The seed of the woman," not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to His human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that He may be formed in us, the hope of glory!
. Fail not to note His humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as "a virgin," not a princess, or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the new-born King!

Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour.

Slow Work Day

It is REALLY slow at work today and the time is going by even slower. I leave tomorrow morning to go back to Iowa for Christmas and I'm so excited!!! If any of you Iowa people want to get together...let's do it!! I will be home until January 2nd.
The slowness has given me some time to think, pray, read and write...

My unveiled face beholds your glory
This face that's worn and looking old
Some how this unveiled face to You,
Displays Your glory
Not by my will, but by You
To transform me
From glory to glory
I will abide in You,
Is it true, You will abide in me too?
Continue Your work to transform me in and out.
That out of me proclaims,
Your name of love.

grace

I have started reading some of Elizabeth Elliott's devotionals and was struck by this mention of grace.

"Grace is a marvelous but elusive word. "Unmerited favor" is the definition most of us know. It means self-giving, too, and springs from the person's own being without condition or consideration of whether the object is deserving. Grace may be unnoticed. But there are usually some who will notice. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound," wrote St. Paul. And those who are in a desperation of suffering will notice it, will notice even its lightest touch, and will hold it a precious, an incalculably valuable thing."

I'm an Elf...gettin' down.

Here is a new one. I can't stop doing these things! It's just so funny!
Thanks John!
check it out!

Possum Sighting-#2

You won't believe it.
I saw it AGAIN! Tonight. I think it lives here and I don't like that AT ALL!!
I had to get my suitcase out of my truck and I told Hilary that I was going to be right back...and I said...let's hope the possum is GONE!
I stepped outside of the door, turned and locked the door.
I walked slowly and carefully to the steps where I had seen it before. Nothing.
I continued walking slowly, cautiously looking and listening for any sort of thing out of the ordinary. THEN... I saw it. It came down from the other set of stairs. Looked at me...YES...looked at me and then walked out to the parking lot...where my truck is parked...where my final destination was. I ran...yeah...I RAN back to the apartment and got Hilary. I told her to get a coat and some shoes...she's coming with me. So her and I, hand in hand, her in her pajama pants and I with my camera, set out to the parking lot. It was quite scary, not knowing where that guy was. We quickly got my suitcase out of the truck and tried to make as much noise as possible. We hurried back to the apartment with no (o)possum sighting.
I can't believe that I saw it again. I'm officially terrified!
I also can't believe the response on my last post about this. You all are hilarious! Check out the comments if you haven't already!

Joe-Elf

I'm sorry Joe, I had to do it!
check this out!
This will never get old. I seriously almost peed my pants on this one!!

Spurgeon Devo...

I am loving Spurgeon these days...here is something that I read today. Take it in...

“Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”-Jeremiah 31:3
Sometimes the Lord Jesus tells His Church His love thoughts. “He does not think it enough behind her back to tell it, but in her very presence He says, ‘Thou art all fair, my love.’ It is true, this is not His ordinary method; He is a wise lover, and knows when to keep back the intimation of love and when to let it out; but there are times when He will make no secret of it; times when He will put it beyond all dispute in the souls of His people.” (R. Erskine’s Sermons). The Holy Spirit is often pleased, in a most gracious manner, to witness with our spirits of the love of Jesus. He takes of the things of Christ and reveals them unto us. No voice is heard from the clouds, and no vision is seen in the night, but we have a testimony more sure than either of these. If an angel should fly from heaven and inform the saint personally of the Savior’s love to him, the evidence would not be one whit more satisfactory than that which is borne in the heart by the Holy Ghost. Ask those of the Lord’s people who have lived the nearest to the gates of heaven, and they will tell you that they have had seasons when the love of Christ towards them has been a fact so clear and sure, that they could no more doubt it than they could question their own existence. Yes, beloved believer, you and I have had times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and then our faith has mounted to the topmost heights of assurance. We have had confidence to lean our heads upon the bosom of our Lord, and we have no more questioned our Master’s affection to us than John did when in that blessed posture; nay, nor so much: for the dark question, “Lord, is it I that shall betray thee?” has been put far from us. He has kissed us with the kisses of His mouth, and killed our doubts by the closeness of His embrace. His love has been sweeter than wine to our souls.

Could have been a possum Attack...

The scariest thing just happened.
I just got home from hanging out with Melody and I turn the corner to walk up the stairs to my apartment and there was a HUGE possum sitting on the steps looking at me. UGHH! It was seriously the ugliest thing I have seen. It's mouth was open and it looked like it was going to attack me. I almost screamed...instead I just said, "OH!" and I turned around and ran. Then I realized that some of my neighbors were outside. I don't think they realized what was going on. I tried to play it off like I forgot something in my truck... So I stepped back from the situation and tried to come up with a plan to get into my apartment. I was trying to come up with alternative routes to get to my door. I could go up the other set of stairs, walk around the 2nd floor and come down the stairs on the other side of the building and come around the backside of where the possum was. Or...I could go back to my truck and wait until it moves...or I could walk around the building and try and get in my back door....or I could call Hilary and wake her up and have her come up with a plan for me....Or I could get my camera out and take a picture.
Well, as I was trying to make a decision as to what I was going to do...the possum comes down off of the stairs and starts walking away...away from my door and towards the street. I had to make my move...and so I quickly ran down the sidewalk and up the stairs, safely into my apartment. It was one of those things, that as I got closer to my apartment and the door the faster I went.
It was so freaky looking. I didn't get a picture of it...thought that the neighbors would start to wonder and think I'm a weirdo.
So I found this picture online and I hesitated to put it on my blog, but you have to see how nasty they are. UGH!

Skirt in December

It's December...a week from Christmas...and I'm wearing a skirt. I can't believe how warm it's been! The last couple of days it's been 80 degree weather! They say that it's warmer than usual. I'm not complaining! Although...there may be some complaining when I go back home to Iowa for Christmas and it's freezing!

Dancing Elf

Thanks Kelli! Check this out, I laughed so hard! Merry Christmas!

Zoom Out and see the Cross

Tonight I listened to a message by Louie Giglio called "Zoom Out Before you Jump In"-The Truth about Temptation.
It was really good. I thought I would highlight some of his points.

1. We live in a spiritual battle
-God has created and intended for our best and satan wants to destroy and "jip" us out of God's best for our lives.
2. We have a spiritual enemy.
-satan has a plan and agenda for our lives. He is a liar and we have to call that out "You are a liar".
John 8:44 "He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies"
His native language is "liar". There is no truth in him.
3. His choice of sin is always cloaked in deception.
-Genesis 3 Shows a picture of satan and his deception.

How does satan operate?
1.Satan is crafty and smart.
-He understands what you are about, he knows the ingredients of how to get at you. He knows our history. Knows what to pull out to get us hooked on the line.
Genesis 3:1 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made."
2.He undermines the truth of God.
-He will attack the truth of God.
Gen 3:1b-3 "And he said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?' The woman said to the serpent, 'From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
3.He attacks God's intentions and His heart.
Gen 3:4-5 "The serpent said to the woman, 'You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"
vs:6 "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and tha thte tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate."
Root of sin and temptation is saying, "I don't trust God".
4. Promises something that he can't deliver.
5. He is appealing to God given needs.
6. Uses others to influence you
7. Vanishes when we sin and leaves us broken and alone, leaves you hanging.
8. He returns to shame and guilt us with the very thing he enticed us to do.

Temptation zooms in on whatever the situation is.
Zoom out of the picture and see the cross.

Zoom out means to knowing the truths about God:
1. God is good and gives his best to us.
-Hang on.
2. Author of Life
-All sin leads to death. Every little sin is linked to habitual sin or pattern of sin and lifestyle. All leads to death and away from God. But God breathes the breath of life in us and gives us new life in Jesus
3. Always wants to give us everything we need.
4. Wants to protect from harmful choices.
-Tells Adam not to eat from that tree.
5. Pursues us even in our disobedience. When we are broken and alone.
Gen. 3:8-9 "They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
6. Faithful to his word and the consequences of our choices.
7. More powerful than satan.
8. God's merciful to us in our nakedness. Protecting from perpetual sin.
Gen. 3:21 "Then the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them."
9. Forgiveness and Grace through Jesus Christ for those who are naked and broken in sin.

Romans 5:20 "Where sin increased, grace increased."
We will never have more sin than grace. Grace will always be over sin.

Refine Me

The soundtrack to my life:
Theme song right now is "Refine Me" by J Knapp

"I come into this place
Burning to receive Your peace
I come with my own chains
From wars I've fought for my own selfish gain

You're my God and my Father
I've accepted Your Son
But my soul feels so empty now
What have I become

Lord come with Your fire
Burn my desires refine me
Lord my will has deceived me
Please come and free me refine me

My heart can't see
When I only look at me
My soul can't hear
When I only think of my own fears

But they are gone in a moment
You're forever the same
Why did I look away from You
How can I speak Your name

Lord come with Your fire
Burn my desires refine me
Lord my will has deceived me
Please come and free me
Come rescue this child
For I long to be reconciled to You

It's all I can do
To give my heart and soul to You and pray
And pray oh I will pray

Refine me, refine me
Refine me, refine me"

The reality of that Night

Sunday's message at church was GREAT!
We are going through Advent and this last week we talked about sacrifice.
Our pastor walked us through Mary's story. I sat amazed at the response of Mary and the reality of that night.
First of all she is a teenager. Young. Engaged. Things were falling into place. Things looked great. Then...an angel shows up at her door. That was probably a little weird and a little scary.
The angel said, Luke 1:30 "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God."
vs:31-33 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father Daivd; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. For nothing is impossible with God."

Okay, that would be a little freaky. How would you respond?!
A virgin pregnant?! Can you imagine the looks, the stares. She easily could have said, "no way...find another virgin."
But this was her respones...
"Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."

Lord, allow me to respond to You in that way!

That, my friends, is a sacrifice.

We listened to this song after the message...

Labor of Love

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
The streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
Little Mary, full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
For the girl on the ground in the dark
And every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph by her side
Calloused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town in the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
Was the maker of the moon
Was the author of the faith
That would make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
For the girl on the ground in the dark
And every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Little Mary, full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love
It was not a silent night
On the streets of David's town.

This was such a powerful song. Brings you to the reality of that night.

A Weekend of Laughs and Snorts.

Well, It's Sunday night and I knew this time would come to an end.
I'm sitting tonight reflecting on the weekend and am overwhelmed at how good God is.
Hilary and I had two amazing women come and visit us. I don't even know where to start to tell you how much they mean to me and the impact that they have had on my life...and the years that have been added to my life from laughter!
It was such a great weekend of laughing, being challenged, encouraged, loved. They have amazing hearts.

Our weekend started with AJ coming in on Wednesday morning!
I took a long lunch and came and picked her up from the airport and we ended up running late for me to get back to work and so we grabbed sandwiches from the store and ate them in the back of my truck! Welcome to Texas!
Denise was gracious to let us borrow Holland's Dora the Explorer blow up bed! We had fun blowing it up...there were LOTS of laughs...and video...that will NOT be posted!
But here is a couple of pictures!
It even had a blow up headboard!
This is the "Foot Pump" approach...but I preferred the "CPR" approach! (not pictured)
Thursday night we went to the Stephen's kids program at their elementary school! It was GREAT! Connor had a solo and did AWESOME! He has a great voice. Soren didn't have a solo, (because he overacted the part!) but he was definitely entertaining still!!
It was fun! It was about Texas, Cowboys and Indians. Soren was an Indian and Connor was a Cowboy.
Christy was supposed to arrive Thursday night but missed her flight. We can laugh about it now...How can you miss a flight when you are sitting at the gate!?! Ask Mich...she'll tell you!
I LOVE her!
Here we are talking to her on the phone that night, it was an emotional night, as we all just wanted to be together. (notice the phone on the peanut butter)
We encouraged her and loved her and awaited her arrival on Friday instead.
She mentioned that as her dad came back to get her at the airport they were riding home and the song, "Leaving, on a jet plane...don't know when I'll be back again." Her and her dad looked at each other and just busted out laughing..."But I'm not on that plane!" Hilarious!
So that night AJ and I went to the airport to get her luggage!
We felt a little scandalous getting luggage that wasn't ours.
I'm sure we didn't look suspicious at all!
Hilary was in a race on Saturday night, so we went to cheer her on! She did great!
AJ and Mich (Christy, we call her Mich because her last name is Michnowski which is the coolest last name EVER!)
Our last night together we went to Z Tejas. It is a GREAT restaurant with really good food. AJ found a Rhino and pulled out her bull riding skills!
We closed the place that night! There were lots of laughing, girly talks, serious talks, and even snorts! We were talking and something happened that was really funny and I started laughing and in the middle of my laughter I let out the biggest snort in the world. It was SO funny. It was seriously the biggest snort, I felt it from deep inside and it was so long. We laughed so hard.
Luckily since we closed the place down, there weren't very many people around.
Today we went to church and then went to County Line BBQ. Again, lots of laughter.
I love getting caught up in these girls and not caring about anyone around us! Mich even got up from the table to do a demonstration of AJ "high stepping" through the tall grass when she was about to wipe out on her roller blades! It was the funniest thing!!! I love the goofiness that comes out of us when we are together!
They are precious and I feel like part of me is missing now that they are gone. As Hilary and I drove away from the airport my eyes filled with tears as my heart was already missing them. They bring joy to my life. I am so thankful for Hilary and that we are together here. As Hilary and I prayed for them and as we talked about the blessings of friendship we were drawn more and more to each other and desiring for us to not take our friendship for granted and to really be intentional with each other as friends, as roommates, and as sisters in Christ.
I'm already looking forward to our next weekend together. New York?!?!
There is something about girlfriends that's amazing. When you can come together and laugh until you pee your pants...or snort...when you can eat off of each others plates...share each others clothes...sleep in each others beds...share deep parts of your heart...cry about real things, or cry about silly things...When you can sing Christmas songs as loud as you possibly can and as obnoxiously out of tune as possible...when you can do funny walks and funny dances...and no matter what...they love you.
Hilary...AJ...Mich...Love you girls! "snort"

My Conversation with Noah

In response to a previous post about how Noah was praying for me to come and visit him on Tuesday--
I didn't make it.
I did call him though.
Here is how the conversation went:

Me: Hey Noah how are you?!
Noah: Good
Me: What are you doing?
Noah: Playing with Lily.
Me: What are you playing?
Noah: Well, we have a ball and I throw it and then we see who gets it first. Sometimes Lily just walks off.
Me: giggling Oh! Yeah, sometimes Lily just walks off doesn't she?! So, what's new? How is school?
Noah: Good.
Me: Did you do anything fun today?
Noah: No
Me: Oh...okay.
Noah: Do you want to talk to Mom?
Me: No! I called to talk to you!
Noah: Oh.
Me: So, how's life?! Are you excited for Christmas?
Noah: Yeah...hold on a second.
Me: giggling
"Noah": ROOOOOOOOOAAARRRR! ( in a big monstrous sound)
Me: Whoah! What was that!? Was that Cookie?! (see previous post on Thanksgiving and check out the picture of "Cookie". Clearly it was not Cookie!)
Noah: No! Did that scare you?
Me: Yes! It was very scary!
Noah: Hold on a second...
Me: giggling
Noah: ROOOOOOOAAAARRRRRR!
Me: AHHHH!! Stop scaring me!!!! Is that you?!
Noah: Yes! I think I scared you!
Me: Yes you scared me!
Noah: Do you want to talk to mom?
Me: Sure! I love you!

Mich and AJ!!!! Coming soon!

In just a few days AJ and Mich will arrive in Austin!!! YEAH!! I'm so excited! It will be our first visitors, aside from Hilary's parents when they brought our stuff. AJ is coming in from New York and Mich is coming in from Chicago. They are such sweet sisters and am so thankful for them. Here is a couple of pictures from several years ago when we went to Colorado for a service project. We worked on this house together....
I liked the nail gun...
This is what happened the last time the four of us got together!
There will be lots of laughter and goofiness.
There will be a lot to post about after their visit. Look forward to that in the future.
I can't wait!!! I'm so excited!!!

A Special Visit to Iowa on Tuesday?

Laura called me tonight and said that my nephew Noah has been praying the last couple of nights this prayer,
"God, I pray that Emily would come and visit me on Tuesday."
Laura was pretty sure that there wasn't anything going on, on Tuesday. I guess he thought it would just be a good day for me to come and visit him.
I don't think I'm going to make it.
How great would that be if I somehow showed up!
He will just have to settle for a phone call.
How precious is he?!?

Hawkeyes VS Longhorns

So the Hawkeyes are playing the Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl.
Iowa vs. Texas
My hometown vs. My new town.
Should be interesting.

Heart of Worship

This morning at church something happened that was amazing. A young man in a wheel chair was sitting a few seats down from me on the end of the row. I am guessing that he has cerebral palsy. We were asked to stand and worship. He of course could not stand, but sat in his chair. The music started playing and people started clapping along to the music and then we started singing. From the end of the row I heard him sing...not just sing, but shout! His condition allowed him to sing out the words, but a little slower than everyone else, and louder than everyone else!
"Glorious, over us, You shall reign Glorious!"
"There is a place we long to be, yes face to face we long to see, You Lord"
I couldn't help but to be moved so much by his passion to sing out to Jesus. My eyes filled with tears as I worshiped God and thought about the day when this man will worship Jesus in heaven with a new body, complete and perfect.
"O Praise Him, O Praise Him, He is Holy, He is Holy"
He was not waiting until that day, to wait for that new body that could sing on pitch and could sing with the tempo. He belted it out as if he was by himself in the privacy of his own home, where no one would look at him, or wonder where the noise was coming from. He didn't care. It was him and Jesus, that's all that mattered and he was going to worship in a way that was full of love and devotion. And he did! At the end of the songs, he would shout AMEN! It was so beautiful. It was such a sweet picture to me of a heart of worship. I can't imagine the daily struggles that he has, maybe even wondering and questioning God, WHY? Why did he create him like that? But it was clear that he had a trust in God that He was still good and worthy to be praised.
"Our God, You reign forever! Our hope, our strong deliverer!
You are the everlasting God! You do not faint You won't grow weary! You're the defender of the weak, You comfort those who need! You lift us up on wings like eagles!"
It seemed that the words of these songs we sang had a different feel to them, as I heard them through his voice.
It was absolutely precious. He taught me a lot this morning. I am thankful for that.

Amena Brown

I wanted to share this with y'all. If you have never heard of Amena Brown, she is a writer, poet and a spoken word artist. She has written some amazing pieces. I was just watching my Matt Redman Facedown DVD and she does a piece called "In Your Pure Light".
Here are the words...

A cry.
A cry lies within us in the depth of a place which we cannot touch.
Waiting to escape the enclosed gates of our expression.
Something is happening inside of us, beyond what we can articulate.
So we respond.
We respond to YOU.
We respond to YOU Jesus.
In YOUR pure light I have come out of the shadows of darkness.
YOU alone are the one that can satisfy.
Seeping into every vacant space inside of me.
Reality...in YOU...in me in YOU.
I try to imagine forever.
And at a certain point my brain stops. But that's YOU.
Forever being, forever existing, forever knowing...YOU.
Before there was anyone...anything...YOU and after everything there was...is no more...YOU.
My thoughts can't even fully comprehend YOU.
So whatever praise my thoughts begin...my spirit has to complete.
And every time I take a breath I discover YOU.
That the same breath that I am breathing originated inside of YOU.
So I breathe YOU in because YOU take me in.
Jesus, in YOUR pure light I have come out of the shadows of darkness.
YOU alone satisfy.
Seeping into every vacant space inside of me.
Try to imagine forever.
That's YOU.
Forever being, forever existing, forever knowing...YOU.
Before there was anyone...anything...YOU.
And after everything that was...is no more...YOU.
And every time I take in a breath...every time I take in a breath...I discover YOU.
I breathe YOU in , because YOU take me in.
We breathe YOU in, because YOU take us in.
To be still...and to breathe...that YOU...are God.

Her words are so powerful and they speak truth that resonates deeply.

I also read a clip that she wrote on her 26th birthday, where she wrote 26 things she had learned in her 26 years of life. I will share a few that I really liked...
--Take the time to be alone and take the time to be quiet
--Listen and ask good questions.
--Discover something that inspires you and don't go too long without experiencing it.
--Routine is the enemy of creativity and innovation.
--Keep a theme song for every season of life.
--Let God be God. Don't let anyone or anything take that place.
--No matter how many iPods, CD's and downloads there are...there is nothing like experiencing good live music.
--It takes selflessness and time to really love.
--Being overcomitted weighs you down.
--Intelligence is sexy.
--I don't belong in a cubicle.
--It's important to find your own sense of style and work it!
--Becoming comfortable with myself is a lifelong journey.
--Put yourself in situations where you will be stretched and pushed beyond your comfort zone.
--Great friends come in all packages...even better when their perspective is different from yours.

Just thought I would share that with you. Hope it was encouraging!

The Blog World is CRAZY!

Mike and Christine met for the first time in person and they are engaged! YEAH! See their story here!

Thanksgiving Posts....FINALLY!!!

Okay...so I 'm finally sitting down to do my "Thanksgiving Post". Every time that I have tried to do this I have gotten overwhelmed...
#1 because I took 233 photos
#2 I had a GREAT weekend and am not really sure where to start.

I will start off by saying that it was SO good to be home!! My mom and sisters picked me up from the airport and brought me home. There was a lot of goofiness in the car ride home and lots of Christmas singing. 96.5...all Christmas music...all the time, starting Thanksgiving day. So since it was 12:00am on Thanksgiving day when we were driving back from the airport we got in on the fun. I pulled out my lounge singer voice on Let it Snow...Jill pulled out her vocal instruments (for some reason she knows all of the little instrumental parts) and Mom and Laura pulled out their Spanish on Feliz Navidad. It was GREAT!
And, of course, it was wonderful to see all my precious kids!
Here is a precious picture of me and my nephews and niece.
From left to right starting on the top...Will-7; Jack 10; (bottom left)Sam 3; Lily Margaret 1; and Noah 5. They are all wonderful! It was so good to see them, they all looked big to me!

I brought the boys back geckos!!! Not real ones, although they wanted me to bring back a real one. But no way! They had to settle for stretchy fake ones. They thought it was really fun to swing them around by the tail and let them go so that they went flying through the air and got stuck on the ceiling...







It was pretty funny!

We of course had lots of food and I didn't stop eating the entire time I was home! I got a picture with my buns and pickles (that sounds kind of bad!)
See a previous post to learn of my love for buns and pickles at a young age.





















My brother - in - law Joe is usually the "Cup" guy. He is in charge of writing everyone's names on their cups. He usually comes up with creative names for all of us.






Joe usually gives me a hard time when I wear my "worn" looking jeans that have holes in them. He usually makes comments like, "Oh, no! What happened!?"
So this was my cup...


Funny isn't he!?








Here is a picture of me and my sisters, Laura and Jill



And here is my precious mom!!!
It was so good to see my family!!










Here are some more fun pictures!

We found Lily in Sam's room by herself sitting in the rocking chair reading a book! I think she might be saying, "Weee0oo", as she is rocking!

The famous "Kids Table"

A major pile-up on the couch! Notice Sam's lips are very chocolatey!

Back massages and me whistling a song! random.

Sweet Lily Margaret...she is a cheese monkey...hmmm I wonder where she got that!?!?

My bros-in-law Damon and Joe. LOVE them!
This is sweet Lucy! I LOVE her!! She is such a sweet dog! She is very nice.
Then there is Cookie. Yes, this is a dog. She is a spaz and couldn't really hold still long enough for me to take a picture! There is nothing really else to say.
Cute pic with the kiddos!
So with Lily being the only girl we have a tendency to go overly girly. So we had fun with bows!
Will posing for a picture! That smile! LOVE it!
Jack usually likes to try and tackle me to the ground...lately...he's been successful.
He is so strong!
Lily likes playing with light sabors!
Jack and I being goofy.

Lily and her precious pigtails!!!

Noah flying through the air...
Sam flying through the air...
Noah and Sam showing their muscles...strong guys!
Will likes to wear his pants high!

My Lovely...
Mom and Don...
Another cheese monkey picture...
okay so I could go on and on with pictures, but if you want to look at all of them, actually the ones that I narrowed down you can look at my web album here.