Twas the month before CHRISTMAS....

*Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying*
*Nor taking a stand.*
*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas – no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a ‘ Holiday ‘.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears*

*You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate ‘Winter Break’ under your ‘Dream Tree’*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holiday !*

Christ is ‘The Reason’ for the Christ-mas Season!

Luke 2:1-19

Weekend Update...

Well I can officially say the weekend is over.  It was a long, exhausting one but so good!  It was such a wonderful thing, watching my sister walk down the isle at her winter wonderland wedding to become Mrs. Joel Reavis.  The day went wonderful, everything on schedule and went smoothly.  My hubby did a wonderful job marrying them as well!  Joel's brother was unable to make, got caught in the wicked (but so pretty!) snow storm :(  But other than that, everything went and was beautiful!  Here is a family pic we snapped after the wedding....

The Saga continues…

Ok, here is an update as far as what has been going on lately.  So I thought I got the flu bug last week and was done for the season….wrong.  Woke up feeling yucky Tuesday morning along with hubby.  Both tried going to work but ended up at home by midday, hubby in the bathroom every hour and me on the couch….  We drug ourselves out of the house to get the kids and then were home the rest of the night.  I picked up chicken noodle soup and tomato soup at the dollar store and that was supper, first thing I had eaten all day.  Next day woke up feeling some better but not 100% but made myself go to work.  Sipped sprite and ate some oatmeal and by noon was feeling a lot better.  Went and got Jocelyn from sitters after work and her eyes were all gunky and matted.  They said green junk poured out all day and she acted blah.  In the meantime hubby never went to work, still having stomach issues.  By the time I got home Jocelyn was sleeping (only slept 45 min all day) and her eyes were matted shut.  Andy washed them out with a warm wash cloth and I decided to go ahead and take her to after hours clinic before it got too bad with the wedding and pictures this weekend!  They diagnosed her with Acute conjunctivitis and prescribed eye drops for the next 7 days.  Today hubby is doing better and went to work, except for he went to get in the car this morning and it wouldn’t start L So now we need to figure out if it is just the cold, dead battery or something further…  It is 7 years old so I guess it is probably time for a new battery and probably a tune up along with my car when we have the extra money. Ha!

In the mean time, we are now 2 days away from the wedding, pretty much everyone in Manchester has been sick one way or another, my mom’s washer finally quit (it was one that we had given her that Andy used when he first moved out on his own that was given to him by his grandparents.  It was ancient!)  So they are in the middle of trying to figure out what they are going to do while they have 9+ people living there this week!   Also my sister’s fiancé’s brother and his wife are on their way from Washington for the wedding, got to Montana last night, hit ice and totaled their car!  Thank God they are ok but are stranded in Montana in a hotel, no clue how or when they will arrive here and he is the one and only best man/groomsman!  So needless to say there is a lot of stress where that is concerned.

Whew!  I think that pretty much covers it.  I really want to sit down and blog more, I have so much going thru my head and so many ideas but time seems to be racing…never enough of it!  Hopefully when January comes things will slow down a bit and I can regroup!  Hope all is well out there!

Winter cooties...

Yuck, i think i have them....  I was home last week with what i thought was the stomach bug but woke up this morning with a queasy stomach again...  I guess it is that time of year but it is still no fun especially with the wedding this weekend and then next weekend starts our big line of Christmas's.  I guess it is better to get it now though....

Well that is all for today.  When I feel better, I will have more to say.

Come and see what's happenin...

This is one of the songs that our choir is singing for our Christmas program.  I really like it.  The Gaither Vocal Band sings it if you want to look it up.  If you would like to come to our Christmas Program, it is Sunday December 19th at 6 pm at The Church of Jesus Christ in Pierceton.  Come see what's happenin!


Come and see what's happenin' in the barn!
I've seen nothin' like this since I've been on this farm!
Those strangers that camped out there have a baby in their arms
Come and see what's happenin' in the barn!

Must have been sometime `bout close to midnight
A big ole' guy came knockin' at my door
He said his wife was `bout to have a baby
And she just couldn't travel anymore.
I said the rooms had all been rented out
But they'd find shelter out there in the barn
They could throw some blankets in the stable;
At least, they would be dry and safe from harm.

Sometime before dawn I was awakened
Light was floodin' through the windowpane
A star as bright as moonlight was a shinin'
And pretty music I could not explain
I ran downstairs to have a look around
I tell you I could not believe my eyes
A crowd had gathered all around the manger
And they were talkin' `bout God's big surprise.

The shepherds said that they'd been on the hillside
Tellin' stories just to stay awake;
The baby lambs were sleepin' near the campfire,
The ewes were huddled by the stone fence gate.
And then the sky just seemed to open wide
With light and sound that they could hardly bear
And what they swore were angels sang in chorus,
"You'll find the new Messiah over there."

"Go and see what's happening in the barn"
There's been nothin' like it ever happened on this farm!
The strangers that camped out there have a baby in their arms.
Go and see what's happenin' in the barn!

Excitement and Thanksgiving

The blog title pretty much sums up my thoughts lately….This time of year is always exciting.  It’s almost like God puts something in the atmosphere to get us excited!  Corny, I know.  On top of the normal Holiday excitement, my sister is getting married next weekend and I am so excited for her!  I try and remember back to the week before my wedding (yes it has been a few years J ) and my oh my was it exciting.  If I think about it, I was really just a kid getting married!  It is crazy, you feel and think of yourself as so much older than what you are.  It is fun to look at pictures and the wedding video and reminisce about those times.  It is nuts how much things change in just 10 years!  Anyway, so it is a very exciting time in our family.  On top of that, my brother and my sister’s fiancé were able to come home for Thanksgiving (live in Washington)!  They do commercial farming and got a huge snow storm therefore they were able to leave 1 ½ weeks early to come home.  It was so nice to have them at our Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday.  Therefore, I am very thankful!  This time of year makes you realize how thankful you are for your family and those that are close to you.  It also makes you realize who really matters and , well, who doesn’t.  I am not trying to be mean but there are times that you come to realize that people you call family or that you view as being close to, really are not what you thought they were.  That they are not positive influences in your or your children’s life, they are selfish and only think of themselves.  This past weekend really opened my eyes to that and made me think.  Who do I invest my time in?  Who do I surround myself with?  How do I feel around those that I call family or friends?  How do I feel about my children being around those that I call family or close friends?  It is good to have a reality check once in awhile and to reevaluate your priorities and who you make time or go out of your way for and who you don’t.  With that said, I am very Thankful for my family, my husband, children, parents, siblings, in-laws…  I feel very blessed to have the family that I have with my blood and the ones I have inherited when I married my husband.  We are all very close and even though we may not see each other as often as we would like, we are all there for each other in a heartbeat.  Yes we are different people and have different opinions and beliefs but we respect each other and love each other for our differences.  We don’t tear each other down or leave each other hanging when in need.  Those qualities in what I call FAMILY, I have become very thankful for and cherish!

Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!   

Blah Monday….

This is so not how I wanted to feel today….  I wanted to be on top of my game today and start off this week on a good note.  Not really sure where it is coming from except that I have a massive headache and staring at a computer screen all day is not helping matters at all… To start things off we woke up late again, ugh!!!  It completely messes my day up when I don’t have my normal wake up time, ect…  I am going to unplug the alarm clock and reset it and hopefully that will work.  Ever since the time change, it has been messed up as far as when it goes off.  I also feel so sleep deprived today and not real sure why… Yes we had a rather hectic weekend so maybe that is some of it.  I just want to go home in a dark quiet room and go to sleep.  I don’t feel like going to church tonight ( we have it tonight instead of Wed. due to the holiday), I don’t feel like doing Thanksgiving on Thursday, black Friday shopping Friday, or our Thanksgiving Saturday!  Everything suddenly looks huge and impossible and no fun.  I hate this cause I was looking so forward to it all.  I am hoping that it will soon pass and it is just the headache that is causing it all.  I hate this feeling especially this time of year.  I so want to enjoy it and enjoy the family time, I don’t want to be moody or blah feeling.

So sorry for the whiny post today, just getting some of my “feelings” out there I guess…

On a side note, as I mentioned earlier, we had a hectic but good weekend!  I took a ½ day Friday to help with the bake sale at church.  It was a huge day and was baking till 9pm that night but it went so smoothly and we were able to get it all done in one day!  I came home from that and made a pasta salad for a birthday party on Saturday ( I have become famous with this pasta salad and it is so easy!)  Saturday, hubby got up and went to work, the kids and I got up and around and left around 9:30 to head to Merriville to Albanese Candy Factory to get about 20# of blue candy for my sisters wedding.  Instead of nuts and mints she is doing a candy bar.  I have never heard of it but it should be interesting.  After the Candy Factory we headed to Target to get a few things then over to Portage to the birthday party.  It was a lot of fun and so cute!  The first birthday’s are so fun I think.  We headed home to which both kids konked out so I had to work to stay awake myself but didn’t do too bad.  Soon after I got home, my sister brought up my 4 month old niece and I had her Saturday night and thru church Sunday.  Then we took her back and had lunch with my family, came home, had choir practice and church, came home and went to bed and viola! We are here!  After typing this, maybe I know where my headache is coming from…..hmmm….

Hoping to post some pics this week of the holidays and some other random stuff….