Suburbanites we are. We headed to the mall today. The big one, the one out of town a good 45 minutes away. The drive was nice, the mall was so-so. But if you're a kid, the mall holds mysteries we could never understand. Camden and Benjy, though bored and whiny in the calendar shop, were delighted by every other bright light and salty scent and happy noise that surrounded us. The mall. Hmmmm, not such a bad outing. Surburban, but not bad.

Busy today. Couldn't take the clutter anymore, so we took the tree and all the decorations down. Even the awesome outside lights that I neglected to photograph. There's something about Christmas decorations after Christmas that brings me down. It's not the lights. I miss those. But something about the STUFF in every corner, nook and cranny. (Is that how you spell "cranny"???) Maybe it's the let-down of knowing I have to wait the better part of a year to get psyched up for Christmas again. Maybe it's the reminder the decorations are that the mailman will bring bills and not fun catalogs, colorful sales flyers, and Christmas cards from friends.

Speaking of Christmas cards, guess what I found today when I was putting away our 7 boxes of Christmas goodies........
At least a dozed signed and sealed Christmas cards that didn't get mailed!!! So, if you've not rec'd one from us, you will. I'll have to get these in the mail tomorrow. It was my job to go to the PO for more stamps, and it was probably my job to get these last few cards out in the mail, but I failed on the latter big time. Oh well, I can't sweat the small stuff. It's all good in the great scheme of things. The cards will be in the mail this week, and, hey, that's before Epiphany, right?!

I've finally uploaded some pix of my Christmas art journal. This has been such a blessing to create. I look forward to reading each day's prompt and then sitting down with my tools, ribbons, stamps, papers - mmmm, love the smell of new papers! and CREATING. Something about cutting, pasting, piecing together parts to make a whole. Love this process as much as the product. I read through last year's art journal and was amazed by the growth I've made as a Christian in just this year. I've always relied on my faith, but I've never lived it like I try to do now. Nothing to say except thanks be to God!

Merry Christmas!

It's finally here! And not a disappointment in sight, unless you count Camden's cold. Poor guy, he feels lousy. Nevertheless, he was up at 5 am peeking in the family room to see what Santa brought. He came up to tell us and I curled up with him and we just chatted about Santa, the reindeer, presents and Jesus' birthday. Finally, at 6:30, we could stand it no more. I tucked him into my bed and let him watch TV while Curt showered and I got dressed for the big present-opening extravaganza. I woke up Benjamin at a quarter till 7, and we were off, down the stairs to discover our loot. Guess what - stockings for all! They've been my favorite part of Christmas morning for years now.

During this week I wanna play catchup on my Christmas art journal. I've had such a blast recording the everydayness of preparing for Christmas. I'll upload the pix and stick them on here so you can follow along, too. I suppose the remaining page prompts may be about cleaning up after the big rush!

Just another day in my busy week. Thought I'd take a moment to post a few of the cute things I've seen this week.

Last night was the school's Christmas pageant. Benjy's preschool class sang a version of Mary Had a Little Lamb...
"Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb.
He is the son of God."
Well, from the mouths of babes it came out:
"Mary had a wittle yam, wittle yam, wittle yam.
Mary had a wittle yam.
He is the son of God."
Priceless.

Benjy can now sing his ABCs. And a year ago he didn't even speak.

The washer broke on Sunday. No hope of getting it fixed till Monday. Rats. It's hard to watch the laundry pile up. But the neighbors across the street were so sweet. Loaned us a key and told us to come on over any time and wash away.

A few images from our Christmas decor...

5 things

I'm challenged to list 5 things I have enjoyed today........
1. Camden ate spaghetti at dinner. He even said "spaghetti" and not "skapetti".
2. "The Office" cracked me up! (NBC, 8:30 p.m.)
3. Benjy told me I was an angel and sang a song to me about Jesus.
4. Almond M&Ms. Need I say more?
5. Christmas lights everywhere.

manifesto

Manifesto: Noun. A declaration of one's intentions.

Starting December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every
day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream
about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of papers and trivial
scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I
relish and, most importantly, I am giving at least fifteen minutes every day to myself no
matter how crazy this season becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand
as I make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories.

I may post some or all of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you
can see there work here.

Who's got my attention???

I admit it. I'm becoming more and more conservative. Scary, huh?

This epiphany of sorts comes as I realize that as a Christian, I am definitely in the minority.
Not only do Islamic extremists want my faith wiped out, but Americanism, or whatever you call it, wants it obliterated, too. Is it such a bad thing to be a Christian? To be a follower, a believer, a disciple of Jesus Christ? Why is it that in this country, being a Christian is worth ridiculing? Worth dismissing and being sent to the corner? Why is it that we can't say "Christmas" when we celebrate the birth of JC? As the youth minister at my church says, "It's the economy, Stupid!"

So, who's the new man in my life that has my attention? It's Glenn Beck. SHOCK! (Go ahead, gasp and fall down, then get up and read on.) He's on CNN Headline News at 9 pm on weeknights. This is a man who's not afraid to say what he's thinking. Now, I might not always agree with everything that he says, but I do think he's right on with his passion in saying it. I think in America, we've forgotten exactly what it is that we stand for. We're so concerned with not offending anybody that we've forgotten what it is to be offended. To be persecuted. We're so busy being politically correct that we've forgotten what it is to believe in something. Heck, we just believe in "whatever." And we wonder why this country is in decline........

In other news...

We're bigtime into the lights this year. We've got a tree in almost every room. Well, one big tree and lots of little trees. The boys are so proud of their tiny trees with multi colored lights. I'll have to get some pix and post 'em.

Camden had a PERFECT math test yesterday. :)

Thanksgiving - beautiful. Just beautiful. Mom and Dad and home. Can't quit remembering where I was a week ago right now. :)

Thankful for what?

Thankful for home.
Home.
Where I grew up.
Where I could go for a jog at midninight and not worry about a single thing.
Where Mom and Dad were always there.
Where the train whistle soothed me to sleep.
Where Magic Mart could stand up to Walmart.
Where the mountains embraced you.
Where everything seems so small now, but so comfortable.
Where small is good.
Where time seems to stall for just a bit, long enough for one to stop and appreciate its passing.
Where memories flood one's mind, one's heart, one's very soul.
Home.

Christmas Parade - not "Holiday" parade

Not even Thanksgiving, and we've spotted Santa twice. Once at the mall and today in the town Christmas parade that they aren't even allowed to call Christmas.

Your Ideal Pet is a Cat

You're both aloof, introverted, and moody. And your friends secretly wish that you were declawed!

What's Your Ideal Pet?

I swear, that's what this stupid quiz says. Of course it's wrong. I hate cats. I thought it might spit out polar bear or something interesting. But never in a million years CATS!
Check this out:
take the ideal pet quiz

Grateful

Today I start my Grateful art journal. I made it yesterday to help me focus on the little things I have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season. Not the biggies, the obvious ones, like my kids, my dh, God, etc. But the *small stuff* little things. God is in the little things. I'm convinced of it. I want to focus on those, to look for them and expect them.

So, I woke up this morning, a wee bit late, and got myself ready for school. Camden and Benjy's alarm clock rang and I walked to their room to drag their sleepy bods out of bed. What I saw made me giggle. It wasn't really all that funny, but I could see the humor in it, the blessing of the *small stuff*, the not-so-innocent but oh-so-silly side of my boys. I'm grateful they're friends and that they can entertain each other.

Well, I suppose you wanna see what I saw:

Christmases past

The question for the day on 3 Scrappy Boys was to recall a favorite Christmas. Well, I don't have a favorite. Mine are all rolled up into one wonderful, happy memory.

My memories don't involve a specific present either; although the smell of Barbie plastic still makes me smile as I recall the cool Barbie case, house, and dolls of my past......

We always attended the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church, drove home the long way to see all the Christmas light displays, and came home where my two grandmothers spent the night with us. We snacked on Grandmomma Stapleton's peanut butter rolls and party mix and stayed up till around midnight to watch Johnny Carson. (It was always the NBC Orchestra and Doc Severson on the Christmas Eve show. I have no idea why I would have liked it at that young an age. I guess it was just that I was up with the grown-ups, with them as they watched and listened and giggled at my sister and me as we opened up a special gift reserved only for Christmas Eve.

The Christmas tree had gold tinsel and fat blue bulbs that got hot to the touch - you could even smell the heat! It's a wonder it didn't go up in smoke. On Christmas morning we always jumped out of bed after waking up one grandmother by knocking on her wall from our beds next door. My sister and I had been counting the presents and rearranging them under the tree for at least two weeks, so we knew full well whose name was on what box. Passing out the presents was speedy and opening was chaos at best. Candi, our German Shepherd Elkhound was always afraid of the din of ripping paper and squeals of delight, so she hid away with her Christmas rawhide bone.

In the few precious minutes it took to dispense with the opening of presents and insane shrieking over the Santa goodies, Christmas morning was over. My favorite breakfast of scrambled eggs - dry, not runny - buttermilk biscuits, white gravy, and chewy bacon - followed, and the rest of the day was spent playing, playing, playing. No wonder my kids can't wait till Christmas. I wonder now what smell will take them back. Does Star Wars have a scent???

Camden's trophie for following directions at his tournament last weekend. He came home and gave it and his other one a bath. So cute!
I've been counting Weight Watchers points since Thursday, and I'm almost starving. I remember the last time I did this I felt the same for the first week of counting and cutting back on my intake. I also lost 10 real pounds - not just water - so I am willing to feel starved for a bit in hopes that it'll work again. I did go over my points tonight, though. Curt made chili and cornbread. Man, that stuff gets better every time he makes it! I figure the chili is really good for me - beans, tomatoes, green peppers, and protein. Yeah, that's what I think. At least I skipped the cheese. I think I can feel a pound missing from my tummy!

I had the most relaxing day - after church, that is. This morning I had three things to accomplish: load the powerpoint for the church service, substitute for Camden's Sunday School class, and help serve and clean up after the coffee hour, which was PACKED since we had two baptisms today. Sweet little babies. :) Once we got home I changed into my pj pants and took a two-hour nap. I woke up happy, the scent of chili filling the house. I was bummed, though, because I had wanted to get with my friend Alecia to catch up. Drat - missed that. If you're reading this, Alecia - I swear I didn't mean to sleep for soooo long! Let's get together this week or over the weekend. :) :) :)

Here's my least favorite thing that one of the boys said this week:
Benjy - "I want that! I WANT THAT THAT THAT, MOMMY! I WANT THAT! MOMMY I WANT THAT!!!!!!" when a commercial of ANY TOY comes on.

I'll be on the lookout for my favorite this week.

What Halloween picture?

Trick or Treat was last night. We took Camden and Benjy to a few houses in the steady rainfall. They still managed to get a load of candy which the good Halloween Fairy traded for a couple of Star Wars guys each. Good deal I think. Still, not one single solitary picture of the whole shabang. A crazy night it was. And I'm so glad it's behind us. Time to move on with November. Here's what I LOVE about this month:
Cold temperatures and the smell of heat in the house.
Candles lit each evening - well, when we're HOME, that is.
Sweaters and turtlenecks.
Thanksgiving Day - the parade, the dinner, the time to focus on blessings
Christmas decorations that go up after Thanksgiving.
Football.
Christmas lights in town.
Snow. Wishful thinking.
Hot cocoa at Barnes and Noble's Starbucks. It's just different there than when you get it in the drive through at the real Star Bucks.
Turkey and dressing.

Curt's informed me I've been bad - not having blogged since the 14th. Bad, bad me.

Highlights from the past couple of weeks:
It snowed here this week. Snow showers, nothing to stick to the ground, but snow flakes, nonetheless. When Benjy saw the flakes falling as we got to preschool at 7 a.m., his little jaw just dropped in wonder. "snow!!!!" he whispered in amazement. Yup, snow. It was beautiful just seeing it through the eyes of a three year old boy.

Camden has his yellow belt in karate. He was so darn proud. I keep trying to upload a picture, but it's not working tonight. I'll try again.

Wednesday night Food for Faith meetings at church are really interesting. The discussion group I go to is a comparative study of the world's religions. We've spent the last two on Islam. Scary stuff, when you dive in and examine it. Hopeless and mean. How could people have faith in such a desperate and cruel religion? I suppose that with your life at stake, it might be easier to give in. Truly, we don't all worship the same God. Allah is definitely not the same as my God.

I've got a pile of magazines to go through this weekend. Better Homes & Gardens, Country Sampler, Scrapbooks Etc., Redbook, Blueprint. I love magazines. They appeal to that "gotta get it done fast so I can cross it off my list" sensability. And tonight, when I turn off my computer, I'll dive into The Kite Runner. Wow, that's a powerful book. I'm about half-way through, and I'm so sad at night when I'm just too tired to read anymore.

Curt's folks are coming up tomorrow for several days. They're excited to pass out Halloween treats on Sat. while we take the kids around the circle for Trick or Treat. Darth Vader and Annakin Skywalker will lead the way. Nothing like following the dark side.

I'm still in love with my school, my students. It's such a blessed place. I am happy each morning to start with our devotions at 7:10. Early, yes, but what a fitting way to start the day. Our director had the most interesting words of encouragement the other day. The jist of it was that we have a CHOICE to walk in fear or walk in hope. It's our CHOICE. God has provided a way for us to live without fears, without the anxiety that eats at our hearts. He tells us we can lay our troubles on Him, trust in Him, and He will take care of it all. But we cannot waver. We simply must TRUST and BELIEVE that He will guide us through these times and that our character will be shaped in the mold of Jesus as a result if we only trust and believe. That's what faith is all about. I had been so scared driving to school for a few days - afraid that a deer would dart out in front of my van and cause a crash. But I don't have to live with that fear. The enemy would like me to be afraid, but God doesn't want that. He wants me to feel joy and peace, to glorify Him through that. So my prayer partner and I prayed that God would take that fear away and protect me and Benjy as we drive to school on that windy country road. Sure enough, I am not driving in fear anymore. Cautiously and carefully, yes, but not fearfully. I had a choice to make - allow the enemy to let me live in fear, or allow God to comfort me and grant a peace to my heart. What a wonderful thing to be able to CHOOSE joy! Yes, I know I sound like a real wack, but I'm OK with that. I'm OK with having peace in my life. I simply don't choose the alternative. I hope you don't either.

I just posted this on the 3Scrappy Boys board - a summary of my day.

Beautiful sunny day here with cool temps and a nice wind to blow a few leaves around.
Too bad I spent it cleaning,
rearranging,
picking up toys,
organizing toys,
giving away toys,
and taking an entire van load to Goodwill,
and then - to top it all off - going to Walmart. I HATE Walmart. absolutely detest the place. But, being the saint of a mom that I am, I joined my family on its pilgrimage to the center of hell.
I felt I deserved a break when I got home.
Then realized I hadn't typed the powerpoint service for church tomorrow, so I did that.
Then I took a hot bath behind my locked door where I had to listen to Benjy bang and plead, "MOMMY I NEEEEEEED YOU NOOOOOOWWWWWW." I took a short hot bath.
Then, I ate my dh's awesome chili - two and a half bowls - and cornbread, and scrapped.
Yes. I actually scrapped one page tonight.
With paper,
not my computer.
So I guess the day wasn't a total loss, huh? 8) :lol:

Hiking

Yesterday was just beautiful. Blue sunny skies, warm - in the 70s, and a Sunday to boot. We went on a hike on a nearby nature trail. It was slooooow going, as any hike with children is bound to be. It absolutely kills me to walk s-l-o-w-y. Even Curt walks to slow for me. But the boys (all three of them) forced me to a snail's pace. and I wound up enjoying it. My heart wasn't racing and my blood wasn't coursing through my veins. But my soul was at peace. This trail is so wonderful - clean, natural, relatively flat for Pa., clear paths that wind through the woods. So many old-growth trees and some new ones trying to mature. Bat boxes were placed here and there to help our bat friends. (I love bats - they eat mosquitoes!) We walked for nearly two hours, ending our hike with a self-guided tour of the flower and herb gardens near the parking area. The boys seemed so happy. Pleasantly tired, we drove the windy roads of western Pa. back toward home. We were relaxed, living the simple life. Grateful for our time in the woods. Then we saw Toys R Us. And the world came crashing back like a tidal wave on the beach. Of course, we stopped. But we didn't buy a thing. I swear it. (Well, a milkshake at McDs, but that doesn't count, right?)

The strike is over. Camden and 6600 other students in his district returned to school today. The upside - he loved it. The downside - he has a spelling test tomorrow. The upside again - he knows his words.
Here are a few more things I'm thankful for:

* Gobs - for the uninitiated, a "gob" is a cookie-sized cake bottom and cake top sandwiched around yummy icing. I've never heard of them till this week when Carri brought one into me. YUM!!! The one I had was not chocolate, but more pumpkin-y. I gotta learn how to make these. :) (Darn, I wish I had a picture!!!)
* I got my hair cut - walked into Fantastic Sam's and didn't even have time to sit down before they called me. I love the cut.
* Little prayers count - I'd been feeling a bit down because I haven't had my quality quiet time to pray and think since school started. And then I realized that God hears our quick prayers, too, and He knows our hearts. So, sometimes that's good enough.
* My birthday has come and gone and I feel just the same inside and out. I'm a year older, they say. But I'm really just a day older than yesterday and even younger than next week. So there! (Still, glad my Avon came today.)
* Mom, Dad, Michelle, Brandee, and Hokie. I miss them. And I am thankful for them. I could have been born into any family, but God picked them for ME.

This was shared at our staff devotion time this a.m. Thought it was pretty powerful.

Mark 6:31 - Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, "Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

A management company in Pittsburgh computes that in a life span of 75 years the average amount of time spent sleeping is 23 years; working, 19 years; in amusement activities, 9 years; traveling, 6 years; eating, 6 years; waiting in line, 5 years; cleaning the house, 4 years; preparing meals, 3 years; returning telephone calls, 2 years; searching for misplaced items, 1 year; opening junk mail, 8 months; sitting at red lights, 6 months; worshiping, 6 months; and praying, 19 days.

Our Lord set a day aside for us to rest and to spend time in His presence, giving Him thanks and praise. Christ took time to separate Himself from the daily routine for rest and prayer. Look again at the list of how we spend a life's worth of time. Prayer comes out at the bottom and Bible study not at all. We don't have time, we complain. We have time, it would seem, for less important activities. And if we followed Christ's example, we would make time by carving out a space for prayer and study and by arranging a significant time to be in the Word.

After all, time spent in prayer and with our Bibles is when we come face-to-face with our Redeemer.

PRAYER: Dear Christ, lead us to spend our time with You. Amen.

I want 2 mommies!!!!!!!!!

Benjy says he wants two mommies. This is his new tactic for getting what he wants. Problem is, it's not working. Here's how it goes. He says he wants candy/lollipop/peanut butter sandwich/a new toy/a Star Wars "gum"/a later bedtime. You get the picture. I say "no." He says, "I want TWO MOMMIES!!!" I say, "You've only got one, me." He says, "I want TWO DADDIES!!!" I say, "You've only got one, Dad. And if you did have two daddies, they would both say NO." He says, "MOM, YOU CANNOT SAY THAT!" And I let it go. He gets the last word. But I get the point because he still doesn't have candy/lollipop/peanut butter sandwich/a new toy/a Star Wars "gum"/a later bedtime. The end.