Happy 2009!!!

What a wonderful feeling to wake up to a brand new year. The air was crisp, the birds more joyful ...and my house was cleaner!

Sorry, that last part was a dream.

We spent a fun evening with some dear friends and made it home just in time to ring in the new year with pots and pans. I know our neighbors just LOVED us!

Wishing all who stop by today, a year full of His abundance; new mercies, good health, much love,uncontainable joy and a steadfast walk with Jesus.


Happy New Year!

I Must Confess

I have a confession to make.

2008 can't be over fast enough. Friends, this has been one tough year.

Watching this year fade into the sunset brings me quite a bit of joy.

2008 has not been my favorite year, not by a long shot. Change has been the theme of my life these past twelve months and I haven't enjoyed it one bit. The economy hasn't helped things out much either. Watching family and friends sell their homes or lose them has been hard to watch. Forcing Paul and I to ask ourselves, "How many months could we survive without work?" Answer...maybe two.

That's a scary thought in itself!

Relationships in my life have been rearranged and redefined. That for me, has been the most difficult of all.

Yes, the Lord has been more than faithful.

Yes, my children have been healthy..Praise God!

Yes, no matter what the storm, we are still standing.


But as far as 2008 goes, this year at 11:59:59 seconds, I will be a whooppin and a hollerin...and not shedding one teeny tinsy tear, not one.

Parenting Tip #1,438,724

Never leave your seven year old alone with his father and a roll of scotch tape.

Happy Birthday Dad

It's my dad's birthday today. In honor of all sixty-three candles on his cake, I thought I would give ten reasons why I love my father.

1. I grew up hearing (and still hear), "I love you Joey, I'm so proud of you honey."

2. He has a good sense of humor. (But please don't ask him to tell a joke.)

3. My memories of growing up are very good ones.

4. He blessed his family with his hard work and love of God and country. (He is a former U.S. Marine and Viet Nam vet)

5. He loves Jesus with ALL his heart and is one of my greatest prayer warriors.

6. He only made a few angry comments about my buying a foreign car when I was a teenager.

7. He loved my mother.

8. He genetically passed down his love of writing and his love of peanut butter.

9. He gave me his bossy...Ahem, I mean his leadership traits.

10. He taught me to never ever give up.


On your birthday today Dad, I want you to know that I am grateful that God gave me to you.

I love you pop.

I Just LOVE Weddings!

I just LOVE weddings. Witnessing a couple make a promise before God - to love one another till death, a covenant before Him, is so precious to me. It is like watching the birth of a family.

My cousin Ryan and his wife Toni were married last weekend. With the ambiance of an old winery - aged oak barrels lining the walls and hundreds of tea lights gave their evening wedding a beautiful glow. Of course it helps that both my cousin and his wife make an adorable couple. I can't begin to describe how happy they looked together.

...so I will let the pictures below speak for themselves.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Taking a Christmas Vacation

Hey friends, just a quick post to let you know that I am taking the next couple of days off from the blogosphere. That's as long as my addiction will allow, anyhow.

When I get back later this week, I will be sharing pictures from my cousin's beautiful wedding, our Christmas cards (which by the way won't be going out to everyone as I'd hoped) and why you shouldn't give your husband a roll of scotch tape and time alone with your seven year old.

Hugging all of you close to my heart this Christmas week.

In His Love,

Bloggyland's MOST WANTED

Do you see this handsome devil here? He is the love of my life. He can also drive me crazy with his extreme disdain and dislike of blogging. Yes, I said it. I spilled the beans. I have exposed him for what he is. He is a traitor to all that is beautiful and lovely in my precious blogdom.


Logically supernatural, he reminds me often that 'my friends' in blogland are not my friends at all. Blasphemy! Really Paul? And how would you know or understand my friends in the blogworld, unless of course you started your own blog.

He tells me that he is thinking of doing just that. He taunts me, saying he would name his blog http://www.wheres-my-underwear.blogspot.com/, or http://www.what-am-ithinking-right-now.blogspot.com/

When he wants to talk with me, he walks away mumbling that he will leave a comment on my blog instead.

Just this morning, I was sharing with him that I was frustrated when I couldn't respond to a comment left because the gal's blog was private. He just looked at me with an evil eye and slowly started shaking his head, wagging his pointed finger in my face. "The blog-police are going to get her for that."


No my darling. Do you hear the sirens? The blog-police are on their way for you.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY...well, sorta.

Eight years ago we took this trip to the snow. This is a picture of Gracie when she was only a year old...before her socks got wet,...before she started crying about being cold...and before she told me that she had to go pee pee.

Boo Mama's Christmas Open House!Thank you Boo MaMa!

Welcome, it's so nice to have you stop by. Please, come on in. And no, you don't have to take your shoes off, unless of course you want to. We have four children so there is nothing that you can do to mess up our house that hasn't been done already.

Please don't peek under the beds or look in the closets. I have stuffed all of my dustbunnies and dirty laundry there for the time being. You must be pooped from running all over the blogosphere, from house to house. Just sit back and relax while I take you on a quick tour!




I'd love to introduce you to my four helpers, Meghan, Samuel, Grace and David. They worked with me for three hours to get our tree decorated and our house ready for you! (Now where is Dad anyway?)




Here is our Christmas tree. We go to the same little mom and pop Christmas farm each year. Usually we buy whatever is in the burn pile for a pittance of the price of most tree lots. This year we were talked into cutting it down. Kids can be so persuasive sometimes, can't they?




This precious ornament is one of my favorites. Our son David made it in Kindergarten. It has a teeny tiny picture of his face glued on. Our yellow lab amputated his right arm and we had to put it back together with crazy glue one year. Thankfully the surgery was a success.



This antique Victorian bell ornament was given to me by one of my mother's dearest friends. It came with special instructions that we were to ring it every Christmas Eve in memory of my mother. It looks almost identical to the bell ornament in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Our children take a turn ringing it each holiday. Most years we start off our Christmas tree decorations with an ornament-argument over whose turn it is. Since Meghan may be leaving for college next Fall, the kids decided she could ring it this year.



I bought this Precious Moments nativity when I was a teenager. Joseph is missing his staff, one of the shepherds has lost his staff too, and one little sheep is lost. Oh the joys of children.




My daughter Meghan painted the framed picture of the Christmas tree when she was in grade school. I just love it.



Poor Santa, he already looks pooped!




Now that the kids are older, I can put out my Christmas tea set. Have I mentioned to you yet that my favorite Christmas movie ever is It's a Wonderful Life? I love the framed movie poster there, a reminder to me that no matter what...my life is pretty wonderful too.




I add a bit of Christmas cheer in my kitchen too.



My garage sale chandelier gets spruced up with a bit of spruce.




What fun this has been! Let me show you to the door. Please forgive me for not offering you any homemade goodies. My helpers and I won't be baking until next week. I do promise to have something extra fattening for you when you stop by next year.


Merry Christmas!

You know, this might just work out.

With invites to lots of holiday gatherings, our dance card is full.

The grand opening for a mom and pop coffee shop (Catered..Cmon' you really didn't think free coffee was enough to get my lipstick on.),

a faculty Christmas party,

a wedding,

a birthday party,

neighborhood Christmas cheer,

the occasional platter of Christmas cookies...what? Flour, milk, eggs, a meal in itself!

the kids Christmas parties at school...

You know, this might just work out. The way I see it, I may not have to cook until December 29th! Woo Hoo!!!

Graveyard shifts are from the devil.

Probably not a good idea to write a post with only two hours sleep in the last thirty six hours....

But seriously, who in their right mind LOVES working graveyard shifts? Besides, of course, bats, rats and barn owls?

At the last minute I covered for a dispatcher and worked their 7pm-7am last night. There is a reason that a graveyard shift is called just that, a graveyard...nothing good comes from the night, nothing!

Go ahead, name me one nocturnal creature that doesn't stink like a skunk, impale you with some kind of deadly poison like a rattlesnake or look like this evil nocturnal Tarsier. A native from Asia who eats bugs...yeah, right...who by the way, looks ALOT like me right now.

Obviously working graveyards hasn't agreed with her either.

Christmas can be a sad time too.

The older I get, Christmas memories can bring me to a melancholy place. A few Christmas songs even sound sad to me now. It is not a surprise that this time of year has the highest suicide rate. What a hard time for so many. For months now, we have been surrounded by Christmas.

Music, decorations, even commercials joyously show happy families decorating their tree, or gathering together at a huge meal- no one fighting, no one missing. The pain of broken relationships, the separation by miles or even death, are magnified in great proportions in December.

This week in December and the songs playing on my blog now, transport me back to eight years ago, to San Lorenzo, California. My mother was dying of cancer, only months before she passed away. She was no longer able to speak so music often played, replacing the sound of her voice and the laughter of ours, with the songs that she loved. This Christmas CD (Celine Dion) was her new favorite, and since it was her favorite, it was mine too. One of her best friends (she was blessed with many best friends) was dying too. On December 9th of that year, Ginger, who she loved, lost her fight to an unsuspected staff infection and passed away at the young age of 48. It was so hard to watch Ginger's family suffer at this time of year. Ginger had just become a grandma and had been with her husband since they were young children. Anytime of year it is difficult to lose someone you love, but at Christmas it seems that much more painful.

My sister Jennifer followed me in her own car to be there for me and mom. When I drove up to the house to share the news with my mother, her precious friend Bev (another best friend) was just leaving and knew why I had arrived, what hard task I had ahead of me. She hugged me and told me that it would be ok. (Bev passed away last year. Now her family is struggling to fill the hole left by the death of their parents. Their father died only months before Bev did.)

What a hard time that was. Thinking back on those memories makes me cry even today. What blesses my heart, what gives me comfort is knowing that this separation is temporary. One of the very reasons God sent His precious baby boy into our world was so that death would be defeated. His resurrection is evidence of that. My grateful heart is especially thankful for this most precious gift at Christmas. "So we are always confident (ALWAYS CONFIDENT!) knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." 2Cor.5:6-8

This Christmas I am not absent from my body, or present with the Lord...but my mom is. I can't wait until I can see her again and hug her again, and share with her all of the joys that I have experienced while we have been apart ... and maybe even tattle on a few who have hurt her little girl. Tattling is ok in Heaven right? I can't even imagine the joy we will experience, laughing again as we talk about all that has happened to both of us.

I miss her so.

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Am I the only one?!?

It's a tradition in our home that each child hangs their own special ornaments. The older you get, the more ornaments you have made and collected over the years. So it is very important to our younger children that they have their own to hang too.

Samuel is our youngest so when it came time to hand him one of his special ornaments he savored the moment. Turning it over in his hand he read it out loud, "Baby's 1st Christmas" He softly said, then immediately blurted out, "Hey Mom, this isn't me!?"

He was right, and for seven years mommy has yet to find or even print a teeny tiny picture to put in Samuel's ornament. When I tried to convince him, "Oh, honey...are you sure that isn't you? It sure does look like you." (It looks nothing like him) The kids busted up laughing, including Samuel.

Am I the only one who has pictures of complete strangers adorned in ornaments on her Christmas tree?

In case you happen to know who this darling little boy is in the picture ornament above, please let his family know that he will be spending his seventh Christmas at our house.

It's Official!

Well friends, it's official. I may never clean my bathroom again.

Wasn't it enough that I have my own blog, three email accounts and a cellphone? Not to mention a husband, four children, part-time job, dog, cat and a LIFE - more than enough to distract me from my daily household chores.

Listen friends, like most of you, I am a people person, plain and simple. It's who I am, who God created me to be. People like me should never be tempted and given the ability to talk to a new friend in New York, New Jersey or Michigan at all hours of the day or night!?! It's like giving a candy bar to a two year old!

After two weeks of listening to the accolades of Facebook by my so-called friends at my writer's group (the same group of people who told me I just had to start my own blog, then wonder why I don't have time to write my book), I finally took a moment and spent more than three seconds there.

And you know what?


I LOVE FACEBOOK!


So, it's officially official. I may never clean my bathroom again. For those of you who visit my home, this is your warning, use it at your own risk.

AND... if you want to stay on my nice friends' list, don't breathe a word to me about Twitter, Gaia, Friendster or Myspace...not.. a.. word!