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| Bible Lesson Plagues on Egypt Exodus 10-11 |
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| Rearranged the kitchen a little. Removed a cabinet door to display dishes. Idea from Better Homes & Gardens. |
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| Erica made Pineapple Upside Cake for dessert. |
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| Gorgeous fabric I won-Sweet Lush by Patty Young for Michael Miller. Deciding what to sew with it. |
He paid a debt, He did not owe. I owed a debt, I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away...
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. I John 4:8
The mind grows by taking in, but the heart grows by giving out; and it is important to maintain a balanced life. 
I hear so many people complaining about the cold weather and wishing for warmth or travel to warmer places. I happen to like winter. It is such a cozy time of year. Winter makes me think of so many warm and comforting things:
candles burning, soup cooking in the crockpot, hot tea, reading books in the evening, snuggling up with a blanket on your lap, snowflakes drifting down, the smell of homemade bread baking, the feel of a warm scarf next to your neck, family gathered together in the living room for the evening, snow glistening in the sun on a frigid morning, birds searching for food, thanking God for a warm house.
~~Photo by my Sarah
This morning was one of those gorgeous winter mornings when the sun shines and the snow looks glittery. The temperatures are still below normal. This picture is of our backyard and aimed towards the creek that runs beside our property. For some reason, the cats always make a path in the same spot. In the summer, the grass is worn away where they walk. If you look closely, you can see a Blue Jay in the bush.
Here is a close-up of the Blue Jay. Isaac and I watched two of them steal Jeb's dog food while we did his math this morning. The outside cats were also watching -but they weren't fast enough.
We made up three Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes this year. Shortly before Christmas we received an email that our boxes had been sent to Botswana. We received a tracking number by paying for our shipping online. How exciting to know where our boxes ended up!
When we first started making up shoe boxes, the kids would always try to scan the pamphlets for wrapping paper that looked like ours. We never did recognize any of our boxes. However, one year we did receive a postcard from a girl in Moldova who had received one. This is such a great mission project that the boys can really relate to. They enjoy picking out toys, candy and school supplies that they thought a boy their age would also enjoy.
This is our first manger scene- A Christmas gift from my Mom when we were newly married.
This is a birthday gift I received from my sister and brother-in-law years ago.
This nativity was made this year by the boys at our Homeschool Co-op. Even styrofoam cups and paper bags can be used to glorify God.
This wooden manger scene was a handmade Christmas gift. I had envisioned it over on the left side of the house. I came home from shopping yesterday and found that my husband had placed it directly in front of the front door.
Look how awesome the shadow from the spotlight looks over the front door. I just love how this emphasizes the real meaning of Christmas!
Secondly, we had a very good year as a family. We all got a year older. We celebrated a graduation, our 24th anniversary, and went on a little vacation. God has blessed us so much! I also realized that we don't have enough family pictures. It was difficult finding one that we were all in. I plan to remedy this on Thanksgiving this year. We will all be together and I'm sure I can get someone to take our picture. Besides, we'll need one for our Christmas card.
“Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him and who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.”
“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22
My husband and I had the opportunity to attend a "Weekend to Remember" conference this past weekend. Did we originally plan to go to this? No. Would we go again or recommend this conference to others? Yes.
We happened to win our trip through a Christian radio station. Our 7 year old wanted to go to the zoo. I started to look for free zoo tickets online and happened to find the contest page at WBCL. I didn't see any contests for zoo tickets but I decided to just sign-up for the current contest-"Weekend to Remember" conference registration. As I filled in my name, address etc. I noticed they asked how many years that we had been married. I filled in 24 and thought to myself that younger couples would probably benefit more.
The next day I received an email telling me that we had won. I emailed to thank WBCL and mentioned: "I was actually on your contest site looking to win Ft. Wayne Zoo tickets, but this is even better ;)" A few minutes later I received the following: "Guess what….just because…I am sending you 6 tickets to the zoo too!"
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" James 1:17 We had been doubly blessed!
A little about the conference: It is awesome! It is biblicaly-based, it is not boring (I mean one of the speakers was a comedian on the side) and clips from movies are shown for examples of specific principles.
It is designed to bring you and your spouse closer together and to discuss things that you never have time to talk about. It challenges you to become the person God wants you be. And it gives you a game plan to take home with you. There is a reason that this conference has been around for such a long time. It works!
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
