I believe

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of Heaven and earth;

And I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virign Mary;

suffered under Pointius Pilate, cruicfied, dead, and was buried;

the third day he arose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, 

and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

This time of year I see more and more articles and debates regarding the ‘true’ meaning of Christmas.  Within these articles and debates, I always see the comments where a Christian is being torn apart by a nonbeliever.  My heart always sinks.  Many times, I'm the Christian being attacked. It's an awful feeling, it really is.  I always wonder in these instances why nonbelievers get so defensive and, a lot of times, rude to us believers.  Why does my belief anger these folks?  

It was only a few short months ago, I got into what I thought would be a friendly debate on a 'friends' Facebook post regarding my faith.  It turned ugly, fast.  I felt like I had been chewed up and spit out because I was a Christian.  I was called ugly names and was harassed to the point that I was literally curled up in a tiny ball and crying my eyes out all night.  Not only was I hurt that people I considered 'friends' could speak to me in such a way, but my heart hurt because I couldn't help but wonder what in their life was hurting them so badly that the thought of me being a Christian angered them.

Admittedly, I don't study my Bible regularly.  I miss church more than I go.  And I sin on a regular basis.  However, I believe wholeheartedly in Jesus Christ and I believe He's my Lord and Savior.  I've seen his presence and I've witnessed his miracles.  

In a six months’ time, I experienced life and death.  In August 2008, I gave birth to my own miracle, Avery.  For 37 weeks, I carried this angel in my tummy.  I felt every movement and I excitedly watched my belly move around daily.  From the first ultrasound where my baby was only a spec, to the day I delivered, I knew without a doubt that Jesus existed.  No amount of science could explain the love I had for my baby. 

As I celebrated the life of my newborn baby, six months later I found myself standing at my Pop's bedside.  I'm watching my Pop's chest slowly rise and then slowly fall.  My 6 month old baby was one room over cooing and babbling.  We all knew it was just a matter of time before Pop left this world.  His face grew paler and his breathing got slower and slower.  He looked sick and uncomfortable.  He gave my Nanny one last squeeze on the hand and took his last breath.  At that very moment the most peaceful presence came over my Pop's body.  No more pain, no more suffering.  I knew that instant that I had just felt the hands of Jesus.  I'll never be able to adequately explain the feeling, but I felt Jesus more than any other time in my life that day.  He took my Pop straight to the gates of Heaven and he made sure his love sustained us all through our grief.  We would need it badly.  Three months to the day later, we were in the same house, saying goodbye to my Nanny.  As we prayed over her and sung our favorite hymns, Jesus came and took her home.  I saw that same peace and I felt His presence.  He was there, my friends, He was there.

To me, the presence of the Lord isn't defined by literature, history notes, or 'lack of scientific proof.'  I don't need it to feel the love of Jesus.  I feel it in my bones, in my heart, and I've seen it with my eyes. The love of Jesus is real.  He is the reason for the season.  He is the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas, and he is the one I live for every day.  No nonbeliever will take that away from me.  My faith can’t be shaken.  I encourage all of you who believe to not get discouraged or angered by those who try to tear your faith down.  Don't give them the power.  Instead, pray that they too find the peace you have found in Jesus and continue to share His love with all.  Amen!

2014

Hello!  We're still alive and we have made it through the Christmas Season.  I apologize for the lack of updates, but it's not from a lack of activity in our lives, trust me. 

The Silver Needle shop skyrocketed over Christmas and so I spent many-a-hours stitchin' the midnight oil.  So, so, so grateful for my sweet, little, shop.  

I finished up my school semester on the Presidents List and Avery and Trevor ended their first half of their school year with great reports from their teachers.

Our Christmas break was crazy and busy.  Both boys were with their other parents for the first half.  Chris and I enjoyed some alone time.  It was great the first few days, and then our house got too quiet. We celebrated Christmas as usual (but without the kids) and then once the boys returned, we did Christmas all over again. We had a great time and the kids were super fun this year.  They got many great games that we can play together, and lots of arts and craft items too!

I've since started another semester of school.  I'm taking a full-time load this semester, working full-time, and still stitchin' my little heart out. Some folks think I'm out of my mine.  Maybe I am, but this girl has to stay busy.  I'm too ADD to be still for too long. 


We've also decided to try and sell our house.  Sometimes I wonder if we're lunatics, but it's time.  We are bustin' at the seams in our current home. We haven't decided exactly where we want to move yet, but have looked in several different areas.  If you're local and lookin', we can hook you up with a nice 3 bedroom house. 

Anyway, please join me in prayer that someone buys our house, soon.  I'm an impatient person and I don't have the patients to wait forever.  I've also got baby fever like nobody's business, and until we move, well, we can't have a baby.  Avery, of course, said we can put baby in the attic, but nobody should put baby in the attic, or the corner for that matter. 

my valentine

Happy Valentine's day to my true love, Chris.

 There is not a moment that goes by that I do not thank God for joining our souls together; as I could not ask for a better soul mate than my Chris.

It is him (and our children) that makes me want to be a better person.

Since joining our lives together (nearly two years ago), I smile a lot bigger, laugh a lot louder, and love a lot more.

Chris' humor brightens my days, his tender heart gives me warmth, his voice gives me hope, and his arms give me security.

I love you honey, always and forever!

our christmas {2012}

{12.22.12}

Our first Christmas get together was at my aunt's house. It was a very nice evening, with all of my cousins, lots of yummy food, and all of our silly kids.

  {12.24.12}

My parents, sister, Avery, and I went to the Christmas Eve service at church. Chris had to go pick up Trevor, so after church, we all headed to my house and prepared dinner until Chris and Trevor got home. Mom and I cooked our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of homemade lasagna and layered salad. The boys were wild and crazy with excitement that Santa would be coming.

My parents and sister spent the night with us, which was a special treat for us all too.

{12.25.12}

I woke up early in anticipation of the excitement that would soon be scurrying down our stairs bright and early. I had told the kids they couldn't come downstairs until they got the official okay from me. You know us moms have to get the camera's set and make sure everything is juuuuust right before the kiddies can see anything. 

My dad called me about 7am, from upstairs, to let me know the boys were up and ready. I heard lots of silly giggles from the stairway. Oh, my heart was full of joy. I remember those Christmas mornings of waiting for the okay from my parents to come see what Jolly Old Saint Nick had left me. 

{Note to self for next year: Set the camera setting to sports mode-these kids are fast when running toward the couch!}

 After checking out all of Santa's gifts, my dad cooked our traditional family breakfast: eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, and biscuits. Yummy!

The boys scarfed down their food and were ready to dive into the gifts under the tree.

My side of the family has a tradition of how to open gifts. The youngest goes first and we take turns opening gifts by age, one gift at a time. It was torture for the kiddos, but they complied with the tradition. :-)

 

 

 

 

 Christmas afternoon, we loaded up and headed to Chris' parents house for their Christmas get together. We ate yet another yummy dinner and were spoiled with more presents.

They do a free-for-all when opening gifts. The kids were much more excited about that. I didn't get any pictures of the gift opening process, but there was paper and ribbon everywhere and lots of fun and laughter!

Both boys went with their other parents Christmas night, and Chris and I headed home to get ready for a short work week. Our Christmas was Merry and Bright and once again, we were reminded of how important our family is to us!

Oh Christmas Tree {Wordless Wednesday}

heartache at christmas

As I enter this Christmas season, my heart is full of joy. I have a new husband, two amazing children, and a family that would walk through fire for me. It's hard not to have a joyful heart during this time of year, but yet this time of year brings pain. I know many of you out there feel the pain too.

I love change. I love painting the walls or changing the pictures around, but I hate change that brings pain. I miss my family's Christmas traditions. I miss my Nanny & Pop and Grandmama & Granddaddy. And this year, I'm going to miss being in the house I grew up in and my parents being happily married. It's hard. These types of changes make my heart ache. And it makes me wish I could go back to the way things once were-when all my precious loved ones were alive, divorce wasn't a factor, and home was the place you grew up at.

As I was baking goodies over the weekend, I had my Pandora radio blasting Christmas tunes. The song "Grown-Up Christmas List" came on and tears began to stream down my face. It put into words the desires of my heart.

Although this time of year may bring sadness and grief, I challenge you to cling to the promises of God, and the Hope & Joy that we are given from Jesus Christ our Savior!

tell me

:tell me this isn't the cutest picture ever

:tell me that boys are always rough and tough

:tell me that the bond these two brothers share isn't amazing

:tell me that you have to be related by blood to be a family

:tell me that you didn't smile when you saw this pictures

:tell me that this picture of my babies, at the Christmas tree farm, sharing JOY, doesn't make you want to share JOY this Christmas season too!

Just go ahead and tell me, 'cause I'm not believin' it

merry christmas

I just ordered our Christmas Cards from Shutterfly.    Usually I create my own cards and print them myself, however this year we received a promotional offer through Chris' work and I was able to save tons of money.   I searched through all of their cards and found the perfect one for our family!     After checking out on the Shutterfly website, I was able to embed my card to Blogger and will receive a $10.00 coupon for doing so!    Savings all around!!!

Fir Tree Wishes Holiday Card

Shop hundreds of holiday photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Elmo Update

Elmo is up to his daily tricks. 

He had to go back to the North Pole this morning because Avery wasn't obeying his mommy. 

Hopefully, with good behavior, Elmo can come back tomorrow.

Elmo's Tricks

Elmo can fly!

To see the excitement on my child's face this morning was priceless!

Meet Elmo {our Elf on a Shelf}

This is Elmo.

He came from the North Pole to help Santa watch over our house.

He showed up at Avery's dad's house last week and flew all the way to our house.

He's a silly little creature.

Here is what Elmo has been up to since he arrived at our home:

{Night 1: Elmo flew from Avery's dad's house all the way to our house {3 hours away}.He was quite tired from his journey.

{Day 1: Elmo tried to carry toilet paper down the stairs. What a mess he made.}

{Day 2: Elmo thought marshmallows where bubbles. He took a nice, sweet bath-in the sink.}

just a few {of my favorite things}

 

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O Holy Night by David Phelps will send chills down your spine!

Click HERE to listen to it. Ahhh-mazing!

 

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I love Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd version of Mary Did you Know?

You can listen to it HERE.

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I always loved helping my mama get her Christmas china out. So beautiful!

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I love our precious stockings!

halloween {pics}

Here are the pictures of my cute little goblins that were roaming the streets on October 31 yelling

"trick or treat!"

Easter {let's celebrate our Risen King}

I think I counted a grand total of 6 Easter egg hunts that Avery had this Easter season. Between my family, school, and his dad's side, the child had no shortage of Easter eggs. Trevor had 2 egg hunts that I know of. These two guys loved hunting eggs. I don't think they even really cared about the candy inside, they just liked the idea of finding eggs.

We had a semi-non-traditional Easter this year. We had our Church Easter Egg Hunt the weekend before Easter. Chris and I didn't have the kiddos Easter, so the Easter bunny came early. And to celebrate Easter with my Mom's family, we celebrated Easter the Saturday night after Easter weekend. It wasn't the traditions I grew up with, but memories were made and lots of fun was had.