Happy Birthday!

Happy 24th Birthday to my beautiful daughter!

A Belated Wish

Wishing my handsome son, Daniel, and my beautiful daughter-in-law, Julie, a belated Happy 3rd Anniversary! May the Lord bless your marriage. May you love each other more and more as the years go by, as Dad and I have. May the Lord help you through the storms that will inevitably come. And for Julie's sake, may the baby come soon!

A Wonderful Weekend

For our anniversary, David took me to a beautiful inn called Gorham's Bluff Lodge. It's an elegant place which overlooks the Tennessee River. From our room on the top floor, we could see for miles. And when we woke up the next morning, it had snowed a little bit, but enough to make everything beautiful. We especially enjoyed the fireplace in our room, since we love a fire and don't have one at home. We had a great time being together - we love each other's company!


We put out our shoes on Saturday and St. Nicholas visited overnight! Abby and Thomas were thrilled! Abby and I made candy cane cookies, too, but they were definitely not photo-worthy! But we had a good time baking them and Abby liked serving them to the family yesterday.


On Sunday after church we went to Sewanee, Tennessee, to the University of the South's service of Nine Lessons and Carols at the All Saints Chapel. Snow on the ground added to our enjoyment of the event.

The Chapel is very beautiful, especially the stained glass windows and it was decorated beautifully for Christmas. The music, by the college choir and musicians, was wonderful. We were so glad we went!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

You can learn more about St. Nicholas here. Use the toolbar at the top to find out how to celebrate his feast day.

33 Years Ago

at 2:00 PM on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I became the wife of my sweetheart.

And we lived happily ever after.....

It's a Wonderful Life!

A tradition we have at our house is to watch It's a Wonderful Life on Thanksgiving weekend. Have you ever thought about using this movie as a teaching tool for your daughters?

Mary, the wife played by Donna Reed in the movie, is a great example of a submissive wife and mother.

• She dressed modestly and was modest and quiet in her personality, too. You never saw Mary running around gossiping with the neighbors, did you?
• She was loyal and loving to George and didn't criticize him or speak harshly to him, except in the scene where he visited her after she came back from college and he was rather rude to her.
• She took care of the house, making it into a cozy home over time, with a little money, which was a huge job.
• She was a good mother to his children and taught them to love their father and to pray for him when things got bad.
• She showed wisdom in her dealings with other people and only did George good.
  
• She enthusiastically helped him in his business pursuits.
  
• She was a wonderful helpmeet, sweetly giving up her own desires to help George in his times of need.

Proverbs 12:4 says, "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband." Mary was such a crown to hers. May we be such a crown to our own husbands.

Advent Doins'

I've been asked about celebrating Advent, so I thought I'd just write a post about it.....

This year I'm not doing a Jesse Tree, but that is a great way to celebrate Advent easily. Last year, I looked at the calendar and decided which days I would have time to do the scriptures with the kids. Then I narrowed down the list (which can be huge!) and Carrie made some ornaments out of cardstock. I got my ideas here, along with the appropriate scriptures. Lots of people use Jotham's Journey, but we never have.

This year I have 2 books which I'm slowly reading, one at a time, so the smaller children get the whole picture of redemption. The first one, which we are reading this week, is One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham. We are reading it slowly, talking about it as we go. Next, I'm planning to read B is for Bethlehem. It's the Christmas story told with each letter of the alphabet and I thought we might do some research along with this one.

My husband reads the lectionary reading every morning and we have the ceremony/readings at church on Sunday. I made a wreath for the dining table and decided we will light the candles at each meal instead of just in the mornings.

We are in the process of putting out the Nativity set. We have Mary, Joseph, and the Angel out right now. The shepherds are on a "hill" and will come closer as Christmas gets nearer. Baby Jesus will be put out on Christmas Eve. The wise men won't appear until around Epiphany.

So that's what's happening so far.....