Happy Birthday, Lindsey!

To Lindsey:
Happy 15th birthday!!!
I am so blessed to have become your mama. We missed the first 14 1/2 years or so, but we are looking forward to being your family for the rest of your life. There will many more Daddy-daughter dates; lots of sisterly stuff with Kathryn; shopping tips, furniture-rearranging, and mom-daughter talks; fun times with Brandon; family game nights and general silliness. Lots of silliness.
I love this photo because it shows you finding joy in something as simple as catching snowflakes on your tongue. I pray you continue to appreciate life and find joy no matter the circumstances. I love you!

Mama

Family Festivities!

Almost all of our family is local, so we never go out of town for Christmas, but we do usually end up driving hither and thither. (I just don't get to use those words often enough!) The first of our family festivities was the Sunday before Christmas, and our last family get-together the day after Christmas. All together, we had SIX different family gatherings: two in south Georgia, one in north Georgia, one just around the corner, and two in our own living room.

Instead of Christmas morning, we did our family Christmas on "Little Christmas Eve" (the 23rd) because that's when everyone could be here. Lindsey screamed delightedly when she opened her zebra-print Snuggie from Granma. She was really tickled about her zebra cell phone case, too! Can you tell she likes zebra stuff? She also got new clothes, earrings, a zebra-striped journal, and two new books: It's Not About Me: Teen Edition (Max Lucado) and For Young Women Only (Shaunti Feldhaun).
Kathryn loved her gifts as well, including a butterfly watch, a doll, a 2010 puppies calendar, a constellation projection kit, some Littlest Pet Shop toys, and the complete set of Anne of Green Gables books. My mom and I gave each other a wrap; it's really funny how often we do things like that. We're alike in many ways, and I'm completely okay with that. {grin} Ken seldom buys anything for himself, so we usually buy him very functional gifts like clothes, and we did get him a few of those sorts of things, but I love when I can find something he really wants. This year, that was two of the photography books he's been wanting, as well as a new hand-grip for his camera. It's always so nice when Brandon and Diane have time to hang out with us. One thing we wrapped up for them (even though they knew we were giving it to them) was a CD of the images from their fall photo session. Another gift we gave Brandon was his favorite cookies-n-creme chocolate bar -- and then we all sampled it! {tee hee!} I've been itching for bookcases for a few years now, but we thought we'd have to build them to make them look right. However, I found some at IKEA (my new favorite store!) that fit perfectly on either side of our living room window, and we got them discounted because the boxes were damaged. So for less than $80, I have fabulous new bookcases! I loved my other gifts, too: the turquoise cross pendant the girls gave me, the felt heart Lindsey made, and homemade coupons from Lindsey for things like "text-free day" or "long conversation over a cup of tea." I remember making coupons like that for my mom, and she still has them! (Please take note of the ever-so-lovely bookcases behind me!!!)We gathered at my dad's house in the mountains on Christmas eve. Two years ago, we did a picture of my dad with all his girls, but it needed to be updated since Lindsey has joined the family. So here we all are: Dad's two daughters, four granddaughters, and one great-granddaughter...Brandon spent Christmas afternoon with us, and we had dinner at my aunt Beckie's house that evening. Since my Granmama wasn't feeling well enough to come to Thanksgiving, we were very glad she was able to come to Christmas. We all miss my Grandaddy, and I think this month in particular has been hard on my grandmother in her first holiday season without him.

All the gifts and food are wonderful, and I'm very thankful for all my countless blessings. However, the best gifts -- such as my husband, our children, and time with our family -- cannot be contained by pretty wrapping paper. (Okay, maybe they could, but they wouldn't like it much!).
Most of all, I'm so thankful for the gift of Christ in my life. Without Him, my life would be pointless and devoid of hope; with Christ, there is joy too big to be contained.

A Christmas Card for you!

If you are a blogland friend, I probably didn't mail you a Christmas card. I send a lot of Christmas cards each year, and I wish I could send one to every single one of my real-life friends -- old, new; those I see often, and those I haven't seen in years. That really isn't feasible, even if it was possible. However, thanks to the wonderful world of technology, I can send this one to everybody! It's the one we sent to most folks this year, and yes, we did this one with a self-timer. :) 

Have a wonderful, Christ-filled holiday and may you see Him at work all around you in the coming year.

O Christmas Tree

Recently, I read this passage (Jeremiah 10:2-4) for the first time:

"This is what the LORD says:
Do not learn the way of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
although the nations are terrified by them,

for the customs of the peoples are worthless.
Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;
[it is] worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

He decorates it with silver and gold.
It is fastened with hammer and nails,
so it won't totter."

Kinda ironic that I'm writing this post now, if you notice that my previous post is all about our Christmas decorations. It's clear that this passage warns us of the dangers of worshiping idols, and it only takes a little bit of research to see that many Christmastime traditions have pagan origins. As I watch my Christmas tree lights blink, I ask: what does that mean for me?

I think that whether or not I put up a Christmas tree is irrelevant, but singing "O Christmas Tree" does seem rather creepy after reading those verses in Jeremiah. I don't know anyone who worships a Christmas tree as an idol, but I know many who worship material things, or allow the materialism of the secular holiday season to take over what should be a beautiful time of remembering what God did in sending His Son to be born as a man on earth so that He could one day die on a cross to pay for our sins.

I believe this really comes down to the essential question that we who claim to follow Christ should be asking ourselves every day: who or what do we worship? Not just at Christmas, but any time? Do our daily lives reflect what we claim to believe?

Christmas in Our Living Room

Christmas -- the decorating for it, anyway -- has arrived at our house.
Because we have so many sentimental ornaments, including quite a few to celebrate "firsts," we wanted to make sure Lindsey has something special on the tree, too. So I searched EBay and found a Hallmark "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament from 1995. Kathryn helped me choose which one to order, and we saved it 'til tree-decorating time before showing it to Lindsey.
Our stockings are all hung by the chimney with care, including a new one for Lindsey. She told us this was the first year she ever got to put the topper on a Christmas tree. This little silver bell was given to me by one of my preschool students the year Ken and I got married. It sits right in the middle of the fireplace mantle.This nativity set sits on a table (my great-grandmother's old writing desk) near the front door. Ken says the bear doesn't seem to go with it, but his little tree does say "JESUS is the REASON for the season." {grin} We've had this set for several years, and I love it because it looks like porcelain but it's really some kind of plastic, so it's safe for little hands. None of our kids are that little any more {sigh...} but there is still no worry of anything getting broken -- and that's good in a family with high-bouncing dogs and occasional evenings of swing-dancing in living room.

Our Thanksgiving Holiday

This was what I did for most of the day on Thanksgiving...

... but I really did enjoy it. No, I don't want to cook that much every day or I'd never get anything else done. I actually like to cook when I know people will enjoy the food. (Meal planning for picky people, however, makes me want to pull out all my hair, so I don't enjoy day-to-day cooking.)

I didn't do it all myself, though... Dad, Ken, and the girls were a big help, and friends and family brought food, too.

Our menu:

• an appetizer of boiled peanuts;  my dad loves them, and wanted to make them because he knew Lindsey loves them. Ken does, too, so he was a happy camper as well!
• deep-fried turkey -- cooked by Dad
• Honey-Baked ham --Mom
• cornbread stuffing and giblet gravy -- made by my aunt Beckie
• sweet potato souffle -- me
  
• macaroni and cheese -- me
  
• glazed carrots -- me
• deviled eggs -- me (with help from the girls)
  
• rolls -- me (but not from scratch)
  
• chocolate chess pie -- me
  
• apple pie -- me
  
• chocolate chip cookies -- my cousin Shannon
• peach cobbler -- aunt Beckie
• Amish peach bread -- Dad
  
• assorted cookies and goodies -- young friend Shelby (and her brothers!)
  
• sweet tea and soft drinks -- friend Katy
  

We just decided to do Thanksgiving dinner here this year, and we invited our extended family, though many of them had other plans. It was an odd year in that regard, because we usually have a boatload of family  (30+) at our holiday gatherings. We also invited any friends that may not have had family in town, and I even put out a general invitation as my status on facebook! So we could've had an enormous crowd, but we ended up with a total (including our immediate family) of twenty-two people -- and one eagerly scavenging dog -- in our home on Thanksgiving day. Oh, actually twenty-three because my cousin Vera has a baby in her belly! We loved it! Our house isn't huge; if that many people actually lived here, it would be an entirely different story, but I love to have our home filled to the brim with friends and family.

My dear husband has never had the honor of carving "the bird" in our own home (though he's been recruited to do so at my aunt's house in previous years). I briefly considered arranging everything on the table to create a Norman Rockwell moment, but we were all mightily hungry, and that would have taken too long. So I just took a photo of Ken carving the turkey in the kitchen, where all the other food was.
Since we had more than one dining table set up, it was easier to let everyone serve themselves buffet-style. Once we started on food and lively conversation, neither Ken nor I took a single photo. We meant to, but then we'd get sidetracked by the arrival of another guest, or needing to put more rolls in the oven, and so on. So we just enjoyed our guests, and enjoyed playing hosts.

I sure hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours, and if you end up with no turkey-day plans next Thanksgiving, come on over! {wink}

Happy Turkey Day!

I'll be doing quite a lot of this (cooking!) tomorrow, but I think Ken will most likely be more helpful than this fellow appears to be. I just hope I'll be as cheerful as the gal in the photo! No matter what you have planned for Thanksgiving, I hope that your day is blessed and that you have an opportunity to enjoy time with friends and/or family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thankful Tree

Can you believe just one week from today is Thanksgiving!?!?

With that in mind, we're trying to be intentional about giving thanks. One great way to do that is to work on thinking of things we're thankful for, and putting them somewhere to remind ourselves -- and each other! Last year, I had an idea about cutting out leaf shapes and letting friends and family write things they are thankful, and collecting them in a basket, but... I didn't follow through. So when I saw Kris' idea to do a thankful tree, I knew we had to do it, too!For ours, Kathryn helped me roll out white paper to cover the inside of our front door. We taped it on, then I drew a tree with a brown marker. I filled in the sky with just a little scribble of crayon (which you probably can't see in the photos). Kathryn and I found a few leaves in our yard, and I traced them on construction paper. She helped me cut them out, and we put the blank leaves in one of the baskets I bought in Botswana (love it!). A fine-point Sharpie marker and a roll of clear tape sit nearby.When a "thankful" pops into mind, we grab a paper leaf, write on it, and tape it on our tree. Any guests who come by are required to add to our tree, too.
We have quite a wide variety of thankful things on our tree...Some of our thankful leaves say:

• tea -- the girls and I each have one that says this!
• cheese -- Lindsey
• lots of games -- Kathryn
• our home and everything in it -- me
  
• for being homeschooled -- Kathryn
• our church family -- me
• beds and blankets -- Kathryn
• good health -- me
• Mac [computer] -- Brandon
• colorguard -- Diane (Brandon's girlfriend)
• the perfect girlfriend -- Brandon
• my own bedroom -- Lindsey
• that Jesus died for my sins -- Ken
• chewys, beds, petting, running, and all other stuff -- Lacy the dog
• CLC [Christian Leadership Concepts] group -- Ken
• that I got adopted by the perfect family by God's will -- Lindsey

Lindsey suggested we keep going through Christmas. I would have to find a new place to put or hang our greeting cards, but I think it's a great idea.

What are you thankful for?

Birthday Tea for Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! I won't share how old she is {wink, wink} but she's beautiful inside and out! Yesterday we went to one of our favorite places, a charming little tea house called Tea Leaves and Thyme, to celebrate Mom's birthday one day early. An adorable little girl was there to celebrate her 6th birthday; after singing "Happy Birthday" to her, our waitress jokingly asked mom if she was older than six. Mom said yes, she was just a little older than six. We go to this place for birthdays, and to celebrate all sorts of occasions, but we haven't been since Lindsey joined the family, so this was her first time. She has, of course, heard all sorts of good things about it for months! One of the most fun and silly parts is picking a hat to wear while celebrating with tea!Kathryn made a card for Granma, and even made the envelope. I'm not sure if I've ever done that myself, but she found instructions in her Little Annie's Art Book. Kathryn's favorite tea at this place is strawberry-kiwi, which is a caffeine free teasane. Mom and I picked the Berry Patch tea: black tea with several types of berries. Lindsey ended up trying both, and after much deliberation, decided the Berry Patch was the best tea EVER. She also surprised herself by liking scones with lemon curd.Before we left, we asked our waitress to take our picture of all of us -- it's so cute, I may have to frame it!
Happy birthday, Mom!

Kathryn's 9th Birthday

Today is Kathryn's 9th birthday!

This weekend, we were in Florida for my cousin Matthew's wedding, (more about that later!) and Kathryn was their flower girl.  Maybe I am a bit biased, but isn't she pretty? She loved the whole experience, and danced her feet off at their reception (see Ken's post here). She couldn't have had a better birthday present! As she explained to me last night, even if she lost all her other presents, she couldn't lose this one because it was a living present and she would always remember it. I will, too. {sappy smile}

Birthday Party!

Kathryn's 9th birthday is later this month, but we'll be shooting a wedding that weekend, so we decided to have her party early! On Sunday, friends and family helped us celebrate another year of our sweet girl's life!Once again we realize how blessed we are to have family live so near to us. Granma, Granpa, an aunt, a great-aunt, a few cousins (adult and kids), neighbors, and friends from church all joined us. We always include grown-ups in the party as well, so we had a little social thing happening with coffee and cookie-brownies (yum!) at the same time as the kids were running around and playing.I always ask for no presents, but grandparents and close family are exempt from this rule (and other friends just don't listen to me!), so Kathryn did get some nice gifts: a new set of pajamas, a couple of new outfits, a book, a kit to make a stepping-stone, a gift card to Micheal's (hurray for crafty stuff!), a couple of toys, and a kit to make beaded bracelets. The coolest card was made by our scrapbooking friend who took photos from facebook to make an adorable little scrapbook-card of our family, our dog, Kathryn riding her bike, and so on. What a neat idea (that I may have to steal borrow sometime in the future)!

Our sweet young friend Emilie makes beautiful and tasty desserts, and she offered to make cupcakes for Kathryn's party to go with the butterfly theme Kathryn had chosen. She even coordinated the icing colors with our decorations! (You've seen Emilie here on my blog before as Lindsey's gravity-defying dancing friend, as well as one of the sweet gals who helped plan the welcome party for Lindsey.) We used candles that spell out Kathryn's name, and Kathryn added two more to equal her age, plus another one to grow on.Emilie managed to meet Kathryn's persnickety tastes in cupcakes; Kathryn doesn't usually like cake or cupcakes, but she said Emilie's were great! I made a frozen sherbet dessert, layered to look like a watermelon. It was a big hit with everyone as well. Of course, we did have some healthy snacks, too, like grapes, clementine oranges, and baby carrots.

After playing, presents, and dessert, it was pinata time! Kathryn's one big request, other than a butterfly theme, was to have a pinata, and I was happy to find a cute butterfly one. She was delighted, and the party guest kids had fun, too. After all, who doesn't like to whack something and get candy? It was a tough little butterfly, so after everyone whacked it, we still had to pull strings, and then whack some more!

While my dad was here for the party, I made sure to get a photo of Kathryn with him on his Harley. She didn't want to stay there while he started it, though! (It's loud!)

What a wonderful day!

Celebration!

I have been blessed with a bunch of awesome friends, and last night God used them to pour out His love on us. Our Sunday school class is big, so we try to have socials to develop friendships outside of class. About every month or so, the ladies usually get together, and I'd planned to host a dessert-&-coffee/tea thing at my house this time, but my friend Jenifer called last week and asked if we could switch it to her house since I'd hosted last time, and because it would be lovely to do it on her back porch. So I sent out an email to let everyone know about the change.

Last weekend, Jenifer said she really wanted to include the teen and preteen girls, and we talked about how it's really wonderful to have multi-generational get-togethers sometimes. She said to go ahead and bring Kathryn, too. When she mentioned something about zebra-striped decorations, I started thinking maybe she was planning a little something to make Lindsey feel special... but I had no idea what she really had in mind!

She had secretly sent out another email to tell everyone else that this was to be a celebration of Lindsey joining our family--sort of like a baby shower celebrates the baby and the mama. All the decorations matched Lindsey's room, with lavender and black-and-white throughout the party. Lindsey was excited about getting to take home some of the adorable decorations. Jenifer had also made a little display on the wall above the table with the flier we first got about Lindsey, the photo from our first meeting, and one from the first day we went to spend the day with her; these things have been hanging on their family's refrigerator as they've prayed for us all and celebrated the story God's been writing.Lindsey is a very personable girl, and chatted with everyone there. She and Jenifer's two teenage daughters are already friends, and she hit it off with another sweet teenage girl at last night's party, too. It's so neat when your kids become friends with your friends' kids! All these girls are homeschooled, too, so I think that's helping Lindsey get more and more comfortable with the concept. I don't think she'd ever known any homeschoolers until she moved here, so she probably thought we'd all be pretty weird! {grin}We all socialized, ate plenty of yummy brownies (and a little fruit!), and we went around the group sharing a bit about questions on strips of paper we'd randomly chosen -- some were deep and heartfelt, and some were just plain funny, like Joanna's tale of hitting a skunk when driving to her first date with her now-husband! My question was, "What is your best summer memory?" At first, I racked my brain to think of something from years past, but then I realized my answer would be this summer, when Lindsey became our daughter. Lindsey's question was, "If you could change your name, what would it be?" She said she wouldn't change her first name because that was the first gift she'd ever been given, but that she'll be happy when she gets to change her last name to ours.

After all of that, we all gathered 'round Lindsey and prayed over her; it was a very sweet time. Then, more socializing, a few more brownies, and Lindsey opened her gifts, including a box-full of anonymous gift cards to stores like Target, Kohl's, Old Navy, even Trader Joe's! She received a few other lovely gifts and some sweet greeting cards. (It is, by the way, quite difficult to find cards to suit such an occasion!) The timing of this was perfect, as was everything God orchestrates. We had that beautiful celebration on Sunday at Lindsey's former church, so everyone could love on her and tell her goodbye. Then later that same week, this celebration, so everyone could love on her and tell her welcome!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who was part of this special evening!