A Quiet Christmas

We had a nice and quiet Christmas this year.  We spend Christmas morning at our house, eating sausage pinwheels, drinking lots of eggnog…  YUM!!  Then in the afternoon we headed to my parents house, just up the dirt road.   I love being around my family, all 15+ of us.  A lot of tissue paper being thrown everywhere, Thank you’s being yelled across the room,  kids squealing when they see what new toy they got…  We missed having Lou Lou and Squishy with us this year, but they visited us via Skype… My sisters and their technology… gotta love it!  I didn’t get many photos of Christmas day, but these are all from the month of December!!

Waiting to see Santa in Warms Springs

Trying to remember what she wanted for Christmas…

A Yummy Quail supper.  I have never eatten quail before, so this was a new experience for me.

Popcorn for the tree

A Job well done and a little girl very happy!!

Making clay Christmas ornaments

Swinging with Daddy.  Family time is my FAVORITE gift of all!!

Swinging to high, trying to touch the tree!!

Christmas Eve service and our family photo this year…

Our Christmas tree

Cookies and milk left for Santa

Santa’s stash left for Lily

Lily sounded this out all by herself!!!  

Merry Christmas!!  I’m super proud of her!!!

Pulling on the wish bone with her cousin!!

Christmas Snow!!!!  First time I have ever seen Christmas snow!

She was determined to catch a snow flake!!

Playing in the snow at Bidi’s house!!!  It wasn’t much, but it sure was fun!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  And I pray for a Blessed New Year!!

~Kristina

Cathedrals

**  I received this in an email from a friend.  Touched my heart, thought I would pass it on…

To my mom friends with love...

I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, The way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone
And ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?"
Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor,
Or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can
you tie this? Can you open this?
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."
I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.  She's going ? she's going ? she's gone!

      One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare
and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it.

    I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this."
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."
In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

* No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record
of their names.
* These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never
see finished.
* They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
* The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

  A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are
you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." and the workman replied, "Because God sees." I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was
almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."

      At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the
book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our
lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

     When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for
three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add,  "You're gonna love it there."  As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Merry Christmas

~  Kristina

Organizing...

I LOVE organizing... I love how everything looks when I have everything in place. I love that I can find what I need when I need it.

I went to a Tea with my mom a few weeks ago for her birthday. It was AWESOME! It was the first "formal" tea I have been to. It was a fund raiser for toys for foster children in that county. We had delicious tea and treats and there were wonderful door prizes.

One of the door prizes (and I wish I had photos, sorry) was a little matching notebook and pen set. The lady bought a small plain notebook and a pack of the clear RSVP pens and some Christmas Scrapbooking paper. She covered the notebook with the decorative paper, then cut a small strip and put inside the pen to make it match the notebook. It was SUPER CUTE!! Then she told us what she uses the book and pen for:

Keeping notes on what presents she has bought for her family.

She has been keeping a book like this for years. I just love this idea. I can never remember what I bought or made the year prior. So I have started my own Gift notebook this year... It isnt all Christmas-y pretty... I bought the book at the dollar store and there is a dolphin on it, but it works.

YAY!! I am getting Christmas Organized.... makes me happy

Well, this is my random thought for the day :)

Merry Christmas!!
~ Kristina

Thoughts at Christmas Time

This Christmas season brings about so many lessons for me- forgiveness, patience, trust- just to name a few. 

I am reminded daily/nightly that Christ was born to be the savior of us all.  He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace- Isaiah 9: 6-7

   Our pastor preached on this Sunday.  It has me thinking-  what do these names, titles mean to me??

   Wonderful Counselor-  means that he is here for me, I can go to him with all my problems, and that if I pray and read the Bible I can find any answer I need…

   Mighty God-  He is stronger than anyone.  He can handle anything we throw at him, nothing will surprise him, nothing will him love us less.

   Everlasting Father-  I have a great relationship with my Dad, and for me to think that there is a Father that loves me more than Daddy-  it just BLOWS me away!  His love is never ending!

   Prince of Peace-  He is the prime example of peace.  He is what we all should be striving for in all our relationships.  (I have a quick temper, I get frustrated easily and I am not fond of change in certain areas of my life…  so this part hits home!)

   This Christmas season (and all year long, too)  I want to be able to remember why Christ came, why he died and how I need to live my life to honor him.   In Night Light, a devotion Jon and I are doing, we are talking about honoring each other.  How can I live my life to honor Jon?  How can I live my life to honor God?  Am I making him proud by how I am living my life?

   Just a handful of questions going through my mind tonight…

Good night and

Merry Christmas

~Kristina

The letter "L"

Up in the clouds I see the trees,
and in the trees I see knees,
and the bees say please.

~ Lily age 4


Lily said this while we were driving down the road today, then exclaimed "Mama, I rhymed! Trees, knees, bees... What else rhymes? Can we play I spy a rhyme with trees?" So for the next 10 miles words were thrown out... Please, cheese, sneeze, just to name a few (and alot of the words were repeated multiple times) but it was fun to hear her excitement in learning more rhyming words.

This is our first week back doing school since the week prior to Thanksgiving. I am so glad this is a "learning year". I am learning that I NEED a calendar with activities and projects and outtings to keep me on track. I am learning that with out SERIOUS organization nothing would get accomplished. So I am going to continue learning what I need to make sure I can provide what Lily needs.

This week is the letter 'L'. We did L worksheets with Lily flowers on it. Tomorrow she will do her dinosaur page, I cannot remember which L dinosaur it is, but she LOVES doing them. We ran into town to return the limb chipper to the rental shop and stopped by the bank. Lily has quite a fan club there, all the ladies come to the drive through window to talk with her. She got a Lemon Lolli pop today. She was talking about Lily Licks the Lemon-Lime Lollipop, then she would giggle. Once we got home we raked up LEAFS and jumped into the pile. It was a HUGE pile, too...

Oh- the webpage I use for most of Lilys work sheets is
http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM It has lesson plans for ages 2-6. It has seasons, bible characters, themes, you name it. I just love using this site. I would buy their book if they put it all into one :) It is great, and it is all free! Just print from your computer...

Today was a good day. Tomorrow will be more of the letter 'L', but also vaccuming and moping and finishing up laundry.

I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas season!!