Archive for December, 2005
Project Hope
We had a neat experience recently.
Our church participates in Project Hope, which is a ministry involving our local county jail. (I'm not sure if it's solely our church or if our church is just one of many involved.) The chaplains had the inmates that would be in jail over Christmas fill out an application that gave the names and ages of any children in their home, so that someone could purchase gifts for the children in the inmate's stead.
We offered to purchase gifts for an entire family. Evidently "our" inmate was younger, so we bought gifts for his 17yo brother, his 8yo brother, and his 3yo neice. We got a K-Nex set for the 8yo and a Cinderella dress-up dress and tiara for the 3yo. We were pretty stumped for the 17yo, so I called (and called and called since she was rarely home LOL) the caregiver (which turned out to be the inmate's mom). She suggested some warm clothing (hat, gloves, etc.) for the 17yo. So we got him a fleece jacket, a hat, and some gloves.
We had the option to drop all the gifts off at the church or deliver them ourselves. I wasn't quite sure what to say when we dropped them off, since they were supposed to be from the inmate. But we missed the cutoff for dropping them off at the church, and I'm SO glad we did!!! I called the lady and got directions to her house, so that we could drop them off after our Christmas Eve service.
When we got there, I was the only one who went to the door - I didn't want to overwhelm them with my crew LOL! (Next year I think I will have the 2-3 older ones come with me.) She had me come in - the inmate was on the phone and wanted to thank me. So I got to talk to him for a few minutes. The whole family came into the room, and I got to meet everyone. They were so appreciative! The 17yo and 8yo were so sweet as well. Then the lady gave me a BEAUTIFUL poinsetta and a card that they all had signed. And then she gave me a huge hug! It was just so wonderful - I was nearly in tears!!!
It was just such a neat experience, and I'm so thankful that we got to do something like this.
Totally fun game
Oh my word. Y'all have GOT to get this game. I don't know where I've been - evidently under a rock or something since anytime I've told people about it they were like, "Oh yeah, I've heard of it" - but this thing is great! I saw our church children's director at the toy store, and she recommended it. So I got it for a family gift for Christmas, and it's GREAT!!! Maybe it's because we are sort of a "farm family" - dh was raised on a farm and was an agri-business major in college, and his dad is a cattle farmer. I don't know. It's just fun!!!It's very similar to Monopoly, except you are trying to expand the different operations of your farm so that you end up getting to quit your part-time job in the city to farm full-time. You get to do this when you have net assets of $1/4 million.
I'm lousy at explaining stuff like this, so just take my word for it - it's fun!!!
I wanted to play it with dh last night, but he pooped out on me and fell asleep. So I played by myself LOL!!! (I wanted to figure out all the ins and outs before we tried to play it with the kids...yeah...that's right! 
)HIGHLY recommend this game!!!
It’s not that I’m anti-Santa…
We just don't "do" Santa around here. Today I discovered reason #245:
I don't have time.
It was difficult and stressful enough to get my shopping and wrapping done...and I didn't have to do any sneaking around to do it! I cannot imagine how much of a pain it would have been had I had to keep all of it a secret!!!
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Sorry I've become such a flake when it comes to blogging. Christmas basically snuck up on dh and me. Ack! But, I am proud to say, I am done with my cards!!! I haven't wrapped a thing yet. So guess what I will be doing tomorrow?
Since I can pretty much guarantee this will be my last post before Christmas Day, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I pray that Jesus would reveal Himself to you in a deeper way this year.
Congratulations Linz Family!
I LOVE "The Amazing Race"!!! I was on the edge of my seat last night!!!! I have been rooting for the Linzes the entire time. I love how they interact with each other, and you could tell they were just out to have a good time.
I know the Weavers are Christians, but honestly they drove me nuts, and I was appalled at how they acted. Yeah, yeah, I know there was probably some editing done, but they sure did give lots of stuff to choose from when the show was editing.
I would have been OK with the Bransens winning, as long as it wasn't the Weavers, but I was really glad the Linzes won. I think this is the first time the team I wanted to win did LOL!
Please pray for Melissa Snow
She's a mom of 7 (one a newborn) who was just diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Click on her picture to visit her caringbridge site.
Weather Forecast This Evening
The low is supposed to be minus two. MINUS TWO!!!! Brrrrrrrrrr!!!!! I'm sooooooooooooo thankful we don't live in our old house anymore - when we stood near the windows, we could just FEEL the cold air coming in! UGH.
I’m a fish! I’m a fish!
Woo hoo!!! I'm now a Flippery Fish! No more Slimy Mollusc for me!!!
(See this post for an explanation.
)
Two-headed
Definition: anything that has 2 like things stuck together. Example: chocolate chips that are stuck together are "two-headed"
(Courtesy of L, age 5. LOL)
Just a quick post to say hello :-)
How in the world did I ever have time to blog before???????
We have about 7" of snow on the ground. The kiddos are loving it. Our front yard is the "sledding hill" for the neighborhood, so that has been lots of fun. Several of the kids in the neighborhood have moved away, so today my kids were the only ones - I couldn't believe it! I've been "mean" and have made them do school anyway this past week. That meant that their snowtime was pretty short since it gets dark around 4 pm here. But today they played and played and played.
Even S (14 months) loves the snow. She sees everyone else getting ready, and here she comes with her boots. She is sooooooooooo cute.
I think I have decided on Apologia Elementary for science. I think we're gonna do the Astronomy this next year. C especially I think will LOVE IT. He already has glow-in-the-dark planets hanging from his ceiling.
Dh has to go to Salt Lake City next week. *big sigh*
My great aunt Doris died this morning.
I think she was going to be 87 this year. She has been doing really well - a few years back she had pneumonia. Well, they had her on some antibiotics for that, and evidently they were too strong or something, and it killed off all the good bacteria in her gut. So then she ended up with severe diarrhea and nearly died - all because they couldn't get the good bacteria built back up. So they went ahead and sent her home so that she could live out the rest of her life in her home...and she started getting better!!! So she's been doing well - living independently with Uncle Howard (who will be 90 in January!). They even had the Thanksgiving feast at their house this year!She had a stroke 2 days ago and passed away in her sleep today.
She was an identical twin, and I've heard many a story of the ways she and Aunt Dorothea would fool people when they were younger. I was always able to tell them apart, but I guess it wasn't that way when they were really young.
My grandpa is 18 months younger than them...oh my was their mom a busy woman! (And she had 2 older children - the oldest was 4 I believe when grandpa (#5) was born!) My grandpa and grandma are both still alive. Grandpa's mind is all still there, but Grandma's is so NOT.
They are living in a nursing home, and Grandpa finally asked them to move him out of their room - Grandma's mind is just so gone that she has begun to get violent. They aren't sure if it's just dementia (she is 87 after all) or if it's Alzheimer's (I'm doubting that), but it's sad nonetheless.LOL I'm guessing y'all didn't come to my blog to read about my grandparents, did ya?
I guess I'm just in a chatty mood or something....Tomorrow my youngest 3 are getting dedicated at church. We haven't really had a church to call home since before my 3rd child (who is now 5) was born, so I'm excited that we finally have someplace to have them dedicated. I just wish our families could have been here. I hope someone at church can take pictures for me!
It is supposed to be six degrees tonight. SIX!!!!!!! Yikes!
Check out this great post on extreme parenting by Spunky. Now to just get my crew reading fluently. LOL.
