Philippians 4:8-9

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Monday, November 17, 2008

I'm no Martha Stewart...





This past weekend, we hosted an annual Thanksgiving "name card" decorating party!
Every year I become a Martha Stewart wannabe, and attempt to design my very own, unique, homemade, creative name cards for the Thanksgiving meal table.
This year the plan was to take the mini pumpkins, paint them and attach a leave with each name written on it...One small problem...WHO KNEW!!! that the mini pumpkins would be rotten after only 2 weeks...UGH

So on Friday afternoon at 2:30 (party starts at 5) I have to revise my whole idea, and go with "flow" Totally not my style, I'm a planner!
So I enlisted the help of Alicia (my niece), and with her help we found a compromise that actually worked out better (smelled better too) We used cardboard ornaments, and painted them just as if they were pumpkins, a few drops of hot glue (let it completely dry before placing on the plate) to keep it stable on the plate, and we are on our way to a beautiful table setting!!

I'm really happy with the final product!! The good thing is, we can use these for the Christmas table as well!!
What do you think of them??

Thursday, November 13, 2008

I don't know him at all..

Last night as T was folding laundry, it occurred to me that I must not know him at all...he was sharing with me some pet peeves that I was totally unaware of:

One of them being something I do often, therefore annoying him without the pleasure of knowing I was doing it!

It all started two nights ago...while I was at a pampered chef party, which by the way; no pampering involved what so ever, T was at home watching a movie. I assumed that he was doing the dishes, laundry, you know the stuff I would normally do but couldn't due to the fact that I was getting pampered...but not really.
Ok, so we have this long conversation about both of us helping around the house and one of us is being consistent (me) and one of us isn't(him), and what to do to change that...long story short, last night he stepped it up and took care of laundry and did the dishes!!

Turns out as he is doing the laundry, he was so annoyed with me (his peeve) because I have a habit of folding the clothes and putting them back into the basket. This, my friends, apparently needs to stop right now!
The other thing that needs to stop is the way I don't rinse off my knife after making a sandwich...I've been told that this is extremely gross..ewwwww

2 things I didn't know about T:
He gets irritated by mustard on a knife
Folded clothes in a basket drive him crazy

My AMAZING man, I didn't know you at all:)
Love you sweetie

Season of transitions

As this holiday season quickly approaches, I am reminded yet again of all the transition's that our family's endured this year.
This year has been our first without our beloved Grandma Betty...if you knew our family at all, you've probably crossed paths with her...and most likely she poured her love and laughter all over you.
This year has been our first without my brother David and his family attending all our family functions...they moved to Oregon.
This year has been the first year that my mom and dad have been partially retired.

As we head into Thanksgiving, I am reminded of how much I have to be thankful for.
Even though my grandma passed last year, I had 30 years with her!! 30 AMAZING years!! To soak up her attitude, her love, her cooking, her laughter, and for 30 years I was her special "Carey Joy".
Even though David and his family are in Oregon, I had and will have so many more memories with them...this isn't the end, but merely a bend in the road. I am thankful for the phone conversations I've had with David, that have gone deeper that our usual chit chat at birthday parties, I see our relationship changing...in a good way!!!
My parents are spending less time scheduling and working, more time focusing on their health, their friendships and their grand kids!!! They have an AMAZING opportunity, especially now, to carry on the love of grandma Betty. To extend that same grace, unconditional love, and acceptance that we were all shown by her.

My prayer for this season, is that my family embrace the transitions, grow with the changes, and learn more about each other. We are all a little older now, all a little more stressed out, we all miss David, Jenna, Caleb, Grace and Luke, and we all miss grandma Betty.
I pray we don't miss out on what the Lord will do in our lives this holiday season. Through this year, yes many things have changed. BUT one thing remains constant:

God's love for us is unchanging,
God's hand has never been removed from our family,
He is in control!!!!!!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Puppies!!




My sister's dog had puppies!
They are so cute, she still has 2 boys for sale, these are the cutest puppies I have ever seen...they are toy Chihuahuas...they don't' even weigh 1 pound yet
If you want one, of know someone that does, please let me know!