I can't believe I just accidently deleted this post that I had spent about an hour working on! I know, it happens to everyone at some point, and boy is it frustrating! So I am not going to rewrite the post, but just post pictures.

I am bound and determined to avoid the winter time blues this year if at all possible. So we are joining The Outdoor Hour challenges and getting out. We have gotten out twice this week, and although it has been rather cold, it has been quite enjoyable as well. I was surprised to find so much green out. The kids had a grand time finding all different kinds of wonders as well...as you will see.

 Moss Rose

 Day Lily sprouts

 Morning Glory seed pods and seeds.

 Our bunny is still around...

 Exposed roots.

 Proof of nature's strenght.

 Picking up run-a-way newspaper.

 Who is that masked man?

 Grace's nature journal entry: Morning Glory growing up a young (dead) potted oak tree.

 Della's nature journal entry: Norweigan Pine (?) tree branch laying on a table.

Here it is! The widget that I made for the Focusing Forward theme at Marriage from a Distance.

 

QUESTION: What's wrong with these pictures? Here's a hint: TJ, Claira, scissors

• Romancing despite the Distance How to keep the sparks alive from a distance.
• The All-Done Law Enforcer Being the sole disciplinarian can be exhausting; let's look at ways to make discipline work for us.
• It's all in the Attitude Keeping a healthy attitude towards our marriage from a distance, our husbands, and our added responsibilities.
• Dad's Home...Time to Switch Gears! Switching gears from being the head of the household to the submissive wife.
• Sanity Savers Creative ways to keep our sanity
• Keeping Meals Balanced...all the time Cooking when hubby is and isn't home.
• You Are Not Alone It is so easy for Marriage from a Distance moms to feel alone...but we aren't!
• Including Dad Finding ways to include your husband in your children's lives.
• How to Manage the Holidays: MFAD style It can be a struggle to get Thanksgiving and Christmas lined up with meals, family gatherings, gift purchasing, etc while hubby is away. Let's look at ways to get the holidays together. 
• Glancing Back Now that we've spent this year looking forward to ways to improve our attitudes, marriages, and relationships with our kids, let's glance back to see what we've learned. Only glance, don't stare, and reexamine your faults and shortcomings. Glance long enough to learn from your mistakes and to figure out how you can do better in the coming year.

There you have it in a nutshell. Marriage from a Distance 2009. My prayer is that God will use me, equip me, and humble me to His service and glory so that other moms living a Marriage from a Distance will be encouraged in ways to draw her closer to her Heavenly Father, husband, and children.

To end on a light and fun note...watch this. Happy New Year!

Okay, I will admit that I received the best Christmas gift by far the other day. My older girls, Grace and Della, wrote a play all by themselves, practiced it in secret, then performed it for us a couple of days ago. I wish I would have video taped the play. The words to the play are below, but really, you would have had to of seen these two act out the parts to really enjoy it. Nonetheless, they did a great job and I was so glad to hear that they find family more important then the gifts and other hoopla that goes with Christmas. Although the true meaning of Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus, the girls implied at the end of the play that being with family is the true meaning. At first I thought they had it all wrong. But then I revisited my first thought and maybe they are on the right track. After all, what do we do to celebrate a loved one's birthday? We gather together with family and friends. What better way to celebrate Jesus' birthday than to gather with family and friends!

 The Perfect Present

Written by Grace and Della

Characters:

Jessica & Narrator- played by Grace

Sara- played by Della

Leah- invisible character, (Jennifer's note: evidently Leah is a bully neighbor.)

**************************************************

Narrator: Hello. Thank you for coming to our play. This is the only way to begin the story is to start with the one who got Christmas going. Jesus. Let me start from the beginning. So we all know that Mary and Joseph got married and were told by an angel that they would call him Jesus (which means Savior). We also know that He was born in a manger. After several years the wise men came to visit Him and give Him presents. Now let me stop there. I'm pretty sure that you all know the presents, and the play that we're about to put on is about presents. The perfect present. 

Start waking up.

Jessica: So Sara, did you get me any presents?

Sara: Why?

Jessica: I don't know. I'm going to get some tea started.

Sara: Okay. So did you get me any presents?

Jessica: Yeah!! Here's your tea.

Sara: Thank you.

Jessica: Yikes!

Sara: What did you do the tea?

Jessica: One cup of water, medium heat, one tea bag, two cups of sugar!

Sara: You've lost your mind! I need to go to the clinic.

Jessica: Okay. Bye.

Sara disappears leaving Jessica at home alone.

Jessica: What am I gong to get her? What to do what to do? A RED DRESS! Perfect!

Sara comes back home with a bag in her hand.

Sara: Hi.

Jessica: What do you have?

Sara: Clinic specials.

Jessica: I have a tooth ache. Bye!

Jessica disappears then comes back home with a bag in her hand.

Sara: What do you have?

Jessica: Dentist specials.

Sara: That's funny.

The girls go to bed then wake up the next morning.

Jessica: Morning.

Sara: Morning. Christmas!!

Jessica: Oh yea.

Sara: Here's your gift, Jessica.

Jessica: Sara, here's your gift. 1,2,3.

The girls open their gifts, a red dress and a pair of red shoes. There's a knock at the door. The girls walk to the door with their gifts in their hands as they greet their friend Leah.

Jessica: Hi Leah. How are you?

Sara: What do you want?

Leah: Perfect.

Sara: What?

Leah: I am going to a party. I really need some red shoes and a red dress.

Jessica & Sara: Umm. The girls look at each other.  Okay.

Jessica: Here's my red dress.

Sara: Here's my red shoes.

Jessica: Bye.

Sara: That was a hundred dollars that I spent on my shoes.

Jessica: I wish she never came.

Jessica & Sara: I wish it would snow.

Jessica: Look!

Sara: It's snowing! I understand!

Jessica: I understand too! It's not about...

Sara: Presents!

Jessica: It's about being together.

Sara: And about family.

There's a knock at the door.

Leah: Here's your stuff back. The party was yesterday so you can have it back.

Leah tries to gives Jessica and Sara their dress and shoes back.

Sara: Thanks but...

Jessica: You can keep it. We found out that...

Sara: It's better together...

Jessica & Sara: Forever!

The two girls hug each other.

Narrator: Thank you for coming to our play. We hope that you enjoyed it and learned what Christmas is truly about.

**********************************************************

TJ wanted to try his hand at putting on a play and insisted that his sisters leave their props. So we sat and watched him for several minutes as he attempted to do an improv play. Claira wanted to be in it, but not seen. This is why she is seen fleeing in the background and hiding under the table. Gotta love 'em.

I can't wait until the first of the year...I've gotta post! I have had the desire to post for the past week but lacked the time or sometimes the energy. But I can no longer resist, so here I am. I have been taking pictures, lots of them evidently, so I'll be able to do lots of updating on what's been going on in our household.

The kids have been keeping busy as we have been on Christmas break since Thanksgiving.

TJ really enjoys playing on the computer, so I must limit him usually. However, I will admit that I have been a bit more lax during our Christmas break. As for our poor Christmas tree...I allowed the kids to unfold the limbs and decorate it all on their own. I tend to be one who will straighten out the limbs, stand back to survey and make sure it is perfectly formed. If it's not then I do some more "tree forming". Also, the ornaments should be evenly spaced on the tree and not all in one area. Once again, stand back and survey. But kids have a whole other way of going about decorating the Christmas tree. They simply enjoy the fun and are satisfied with their creations because they aren't trying to impress anyone who might drop by their house or look at pictures of it. So I have embraced their carefree joy and have not touched the limbs and have only moved a couple of ornaments. I did take note that the tree looks rather bare this year. Then when I realized after another glass ornament broke (sigh) that many of the ornaments met the same fate and we are left mostly with homemade ornaments. At first I thought I needed to purchase more "pretty" ornaments, but then God brought my thinking back to a child's mind set. Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree may not be a match for the White House's beautiful and grand Christmas tree, but I wouldn't trade this one for anything. It has reminded me to take a chill during this busy season and to enjoy the important things...family and friends.

Claira has thankfully been keeping herself busy playing in ways that are approved of and encouraged by me. If you've been visiting me long enough then you've probably read about some of the things Claira has gotten into in the past. Lotion, lots of it, pads put into the souls of her shoes (that one cracked me up and somewhere I have a picture of her shoe padding), sisters' fingernail polish...you get the idea. Anyways, above she is playing with a ball that she bought with her own money at the Dollar Store. This child has a fascination with balls. When ever she sees them at the Dollar Store or at Wal-mart she will practically beg for one. We usually say no because Maggie, our dog, gets a hold of the ball and it is popped in no time. But interestingly enough, Maggie hasn't bothered this little ball. The two sure did have fun running around this day as you can tell...this is the reason the photos are so blurry. Nonetheless, I love these pictures. 

My parents gave TJ and Claira a subscription to "Your Big Backyard" magazine. I have wanted to subscribe to this for the longest time for them...not sure why I have held back. I suppose I didn't realize the magazine is so neat and packed full of fun and educational stuff! All of the kids and I had a grand time reading through it and learning about reindeers and other artic animals.

I purchased an early Christmas gift for the kids...these cool dot markers. As you can see, the kids have had fun with them.
I did Christmas cookie baking.

Of course I  had some help with making the cookies.

Helping has its privileges!

We had a really nice snow. You can also get a pretty good look at the deck my hubby is building for us. The project is on hold for now, obviously, but is almost done. Just a few more railings! I love it and can't wait to have a picnic table on it so we can eat outside.

We happened to be in town when this snow fell. Maggie couldn't wait to get out in it with the kids. However, she didn't want to go out by herself. She is so funny!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season. We are looking forward to Christmas shopping, wrapping, baking, creating crafts, and having family fun during our Christmas break.

You know your kiddos are bored when you see this and find out who did it. However, in co-op this morning the Bible lesson involved the question "Is the cup half empty or half full?" So maybe rather than looking at this as boredom maybe I'll look at this as creativity and fun! Yea, that's the ticket!

We're going on a road trip!

A very long road trip!

Four kids and a dog!

I'm not scared!

"Are we there yet?"

Can't stop hearing them.

Can't stop seeing them.

Can't stop keeping them.

"No, no, no!"

 

We're going on a road trip!

A very long road trip!

Four kids and a dog!

I'm not scared!

"He touched me!"

Can't stop hearing them.

Can't stop seeing them.

Can't stop keeping them.

"Oh you guys! Sigh. Oh you guy! Sigh. Oh you guys! Sigh."

Where does the time go?! We have been busy with school as well as all the other things that go along with being a part of a family. We are about to enter the last week of our second quarter...which means it is just about time for WINTER BREAK! Woo-hoo! Yea, we are a bit ready for a break, not to mention we just found out that we will be able to go home to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with our parents, family, and friends. We can't wait! In the meantime, here is a lot of catching up from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!

As I've mentioned before, we love our new library. A few weeks ago I posted a picture of the new statue of Mary Draper Ingles. Here are some pictures of the sitting area on the second floor that we like to visit. It is so enjoyable to treat ourselves to a soda from the soda machine, a snack (we brought left over muffins from breakfast on this day), and to sit in front of these magnificent windows. When it is snowing out the view is all the more magnificent!

We finally got around to carving our little pumpkins.

The leaves also finally fell out of the trees. The kids had so much fun raking leaves not only from our backyard, but from surrounding yards as well. After they made a big ol' pile of leaves, Della came running in and asked if I'd take their picture. She set up Claira in her spot. Although Claira doesn't look like she's enjoying herself, she really was. Della also placed TJ and herself in these perfect spots and pretty much ran the "photo shoot"...I just snapped away.

We love our dog, Maggie, so much, she might as well be one of the kids since she is definitely one of the family. It is so amazing how much personality she has and the fact that she can very clearly communicate her needs and wants. In fact, as I type this, Maggie is being hand fed chunks of ice from Della's cup. No, I'm not the only one who spoils her...but I do seem to be the only one who has her for a shadow.

Like so many families, ours is not exempt from the kayos and craziness that comes with living together with other personalities, needs, wants, desires, likes, dislikes, various out-of-the-house activities, etc. Before I knew it we had become a family that was fussing, arguing, disrespectful to and with each other...and I include myself in this. I sat wondering what in the world happened to our happy family. Where had our joy gone. Now mind you, I am not saying we never had problems and conflict, but it wasn't usually non-stop, day in and day out. I came across this wonderful teaching of how to keep our lives in balance...because the Lord knows, it wasn't balanced. In Stormie Ormartian's book, Praying through the Deeper Issues of Marriage, Stormie taught that keeping a balance in a marriage consists of God being first, spouse second, children third, and then everything else will fall into it's place. Yes, it sounds simple, and it is...but not always simple to do when you don't keep your focus in priority. So....I figured since this order of balance worked so well for me in my marriage, it would work just as well for the kids. So here it is...and yes, it has caused them to think or rethink some actions and/or words.

I don't know why it seems to catch me by surprise when I find myself typing, saying, or thinking the word "battle" lately. Especially knowing that one BIG quote God placed in my life earlier this year, "Be brave, you were made for this". I suppose I tend to think of battle as being something that involves blood, weapons, fatalities, men, and destruction. I even tend to think of a battle as being more like something seen in "Braveheart" rather than war movies. A more "intimate" confrontation, if you will, that is handled face-to-face rather than from a distance with the aide of firearms and other machinery defenses.

Why am I stuck on this word lately? It is because I recently have come to terms and admitted that I am at battle. In the battle I am in there are no fatalities or bloodshed. However, there is brokenness and injury that is not seen by the naked eye...only the All Seeing Eye. There aren't any visible weapons or destruction either...they are also unseen by the naked eye. The All Seeing Eye sees differently though.

Who am I at battle against? satan and his many principalities. It's not that satan has never shown his face in my life before, trust me, he's had his fair share of "fun" in my life just as he has in yours. Over the past year, however, he has done to this battle what Emeril likes to do to his recipes..."Kick it up a notch!" I've been in full force battle, but looking back I believe I've been living in denial of this. Or is it that I knew the battle had become more intense so I decided to kick it up a notch with my own will and determination?

Over the past week God has finally convinced me to allow Him to be the General of this battle rather than myself. To release all of my...well, there really isn't anything to release other than God's Power! I thought I was the general of this battle...MY battle. However, I lack knowledge and understanding on how to use the weapons God has equipped me with. I did not understand the language of the orders given to me to win this battle...or perhaps I chose not to read them just as I tend to skip reading "how to put this together" directions to the latest and greatest toys my kids get at Christmas.

This morning as I pulled out a winter jacket to wear to church (yes, winter weather has finally arrived), I put my hands into my pockets. Isn't that always fun to do at the beginning of each winter? You just never know what you will find! I found notes from Wednesday night church, January 30, 2008. The title of this teaching, "Courage to Face Your Giants: Portraits of Courage".  I knew I needed to take time later to review these notes, and so I did. It wasn't until I saw the very last note on this page which I had written down ten months ago that I realized God made sure that I preserved this paper for this day. What was that final note that struck me so significantly?

"The battle belongs to the Lord."