My totaled car and so much more...

Well, I guess I will start at the beginning. Last Saturday, Dec. 13th, my honey sent me down South, to Hattiesburg, for a Family Readiness Group meeting. He will be deploying to Iraq in July and he has put me in charge of the Family Readiness Group for our area. So I spent all day in meetings and it was really a very informative time. I enjoyed it even after really not wanting to go.LOL So I was coming back home and about 15 miles from my house, a man ran a stop sign and plowed into the side of my van. My husband says he T-boned me. First let me say, if you do not wear your seat belt, START!!! I was hit straight on and spun around in the intersection like a top, and walked away without a scratch other than some bruising from the seat belt. I am a believer now. I have never been in an accident before and it was terrifying. I was hysterical because I was disoriented and thinking that my children would have been in that seat that is scrunched up. We finally found out yesterday that they totalled my van. We are pleased with the amount they are giving us for it, also. We were thinking it would be much less, as a van is worthless after driving off the car lot. So now we are car shopping or rather, truck shopping. We also have a Suburban and I will now drive it and my husband is going to get a truck to drive back and forth to work. I want to say that I always have my children in the car with me but on this very rare day I was alone. I am so thankful that it was not any worse than being a little sore and that my babies (17,14, and 11) were all safe and sound at home. I am also thankful for the very nice people who stopped to help and that the man who hit me was honest and nice. It just could have been so much worse but God is faithful!

Now to the good stuff, this is what me and my middle maiden did all afternoon yesterday. We made plates of goodies to take to the men who work for my honey and to our friends and neighbors for Christmas. We made plain fudge, peanut fudge, no bake cookies, butterscotch cookies, crock pot candy, and chocolate turtle cookies. I will also send them a home baked loaf of bread and some jelly. The little cookies with nuts around them and caramel in the center are the Turtles. They are soooo good.

I wrapped them in red Saran Wrap and will put a pretty little note card on top.

We will be car/truck hunting the next few days, if you think of us please say a prayer of wisdom, as we are seeking to do the right thing.

Have a great day!!!!

First Show and Tell Friday....

I wanted to tell you about our Jesse Tree and I also wanted to participate in Kelli's Show and Tell Friday, so I combined the two and here it is. I love Kelli's blog. She is so real, down to earth, and incredibly creative. Go and check her out if you haven't already.


Ok, here is our Jesse Tree in all his glory. I want to show you the picture and then explain the concept.

First, we took a branch from a tree outside and stuck it in one of my milk bottles with some beans for stability. It of course, needed a nice red bow.LOL Then I printed our ornaments for each night and laminated them to go on the tree. Now, every night from Nov. 30 until Dec. 25 we have a devotional that pertains to some promise that God gave having to do with our need for a Saviour. Each one of these ornaments, that we add to the tree nightly, coincides with the promise for that night. So like last night we read the story of Samuel anointing David as king.(1 Samuel 16:1-13) The ornament we hung was a horn filled with anointing oil.

I have really been searching for something that sets this season apart from what the "World" looks like and for us the Jesse Tree has done it. It has been a great time of really seeing how the whole Bible is set up to show us our great need of redemption and how Jesus is that redemption.

I got mine from Graham Family Ministries. I ordered their 12 week holiday planner and the Jesse Tree was part of the planner. However, the devotions are very young and next year I may make them a little more meaty.

Here are some other great sites for Jesse Tree stuff:
http://www.jesse-tree.com/
http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2008/11/jesse-tree.html ( this is Shannon at rocks in my dryer's post on her Jesse Tree) http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/
http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=1628

Here is a list of blogs that refer to the Jesse Tree:
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=Jesse+Tree&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=blogsearch_group&resnum=11&ct=title

I hope you enjoy our Jesse Tree and go and visit Kelli and the other Show and Tell's.

**************Oh, and check out the snow pictures that I posted yesterday, we got about 4 inches. Which is unbelievable for Mississippi.*********************************************

Have a great day!!!

It is snowing in Central Mississippi...

This is the little country church that you can see from my pasture. I thought this picture was beautiful.

For those of you who live in the South, you know that this little 1/2 -1 inch of snow is a big deal. The schools close and people stock up at the store like it's doom's day. It is quite the site to see. If we got a real snow we would be in trouble. However, I like this kind of snow. My kids got to play in it and they think it's the best thing. Then tommorow it will be in the 50's and all will be right in the world. God has been so good to us to give us snow twice in one year this year. We got a pretty good one in March, too. You've got to love that global warming!!!

I think this one will be our Christmas card that I probably wont get done.LOL

Have a great day!!!

Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. Psalm 37:4-5

Christmas....(pictures)

Before I start this post let me preface by saying that we do "Christmas". We have a tree and the house is decorated, so don't get too worried but I do want to share this with you.


I struggle this time of year with the whole "Christmas" thing and have for a few years now. I know that sounds insane in a world that loves Christmas but I try so hard to live a life that is truly following and seeking God's guidance. So when I look at "Christmas", I ask myself what does God think of this. It is a holiday that is very deeply rooted in Paganism dating back before Christ's birth. Well, we know what God says about that.( Gal. 4:8-11) It's also so commercialized and worldly. God clearly says that we are not to love this world or the things of this world!!! (1 John 2:15)

Then there is the whole Jesus' birthday thing. Well, Jesus was born more like August or September than December. However, what does God say about celebrating His birthday. He doesn't. There are only two mentionings of birthdays in the whole book and they were not happy occassions. (Gen. 40, Matt. 14:6-10) The Bible says to mourn the day of birth and rejoice the day of death.

I could go on and on but I will spare you. I will tell you that if we had been seeking the Lord earnestly, when our children were little, we would have done things very differently. There would probably not be as much of an emphasis on this one day. However, we weren't. So here we are with 3 kids who love Christmas and 2 parents who do not want to crush their spirit.

I have heard the phrase " redeeming Christmas" and I guess that is what we now do. I don't want to focus too much on the Jesus' birthday thing (as far as the day) but I do want to take this period of time to really delve deep into the events of His birth and why He had to be born (as a sacrifice for our sin). So this year we are doing some things differently.

We are doing a Jesse Tree, which is a great devotional tool starting in Gen. and ending with the birth of Jesus. We are also memorizing Luke 2:1-20.

We will still be baking cookies and giving to friends and neighbors. There will still be presents under the tree and singing of Christmas carols. We are just little by little trying to revamp the way we do things in order to become more and more like Christ (2 Cor. 3:18) and put away some traditions of men (Matt. 15:9).

With all of that being said, here are my middle daughter and son making our yearly gingerbread houses. They turned out great and the kids had a great time. My oldest daughter missed out this year, as she has taken on an afternoon job, helping a lady up the street until January. (sniffle, sniffle, they grow up too soon)

Here is the kit I bought at WalMart. I have made them myself in the past and for the price of this kit, making it just does not make sense, for me.

Here is the end result. They are beautiful!!!

I hope to post more about our Jesse Tree and all of our other crafts and recipes but we are so busy that I don't know that it will happen. I hope you all have a great holiday Season and truly focus on those things that are eternal like Faith, family and friends.