weekending - Christmas weekend and favorite moments

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and Christmas day! We did...it was made even more special by what I'm about to share. I said I probably wasn't going to write a blog post for today, but apparently I like to eat my words. Here's why, though—I stayed home all weekend and got so much done that I had the time to write. 

We got a very light dusting of snow Thursday night, which then turned icy when the temps stayed below freezing. It's beautiful! It was the closest to a white Christmas we'll ever get, most likely. Anyway, as you know, I finished all my shopping on Wednesday of last week, I wrapped everything on Thursday, I stuffed the stockings at five thirty on Friday morning, and then...

I was done. This gave me lots of free time, so I made some goodies for the boys to eat, I cleaned a little, I read a book, and I watched movies. Which is why I'm sharing today...I have some favorites from the weekend I wanted to share with you. I'll start with the beautiful and light snow that we got Thursday night. I put them in chronological order, because I am me, and of course I would do that. This is Thursday night, then Friday morning...etc.

Have you ever heard the song Winter Snow by Audrey Assad with Chris Tomlin? It's one of my favorites! I'll share it here in case you want to listen. The snow falling on Thursday night reminded me of this song.

It was so pretty! It was cold and crystal clear on Friday, which is my favorite kind of weather. I love how the white adds a touch of sparkle to everything. Our sons that live with us stayed out with friends all day, so I never saw them. Drew got to leave work early because of the cold and Noah's work never even opened for the same reason. I was so glad to hear this! Todd ended up going into work for the sheriff's department that night, so I made myself a yummy dinner that my friend Debbie at Millie's Cozy Cottage inspired. 

It's not the best picture, but it was delicious. I made a grilled cheese sandwich on our electric griddle using wheat bread with a lower fat butter spread for the outsides, a tiny bit of mayo and Dijon mustard, and provolone and Colby Jack cheese (one slice of each). 

While I ate my dinner of the sandwich, homemade Chex mix and some orange slices, I watched the cutest movie ever! It's one that my friend Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa recommended. 

Have you seen About Fate? It was so good! I watched it on Prime TV. I appreciated Amy recommending it to me. It will definitely be a favorite for years to come! And this sweet picture of Callie is another favorite. 

Have I mentioned lately that Drew is Callie's person? I am always taking pictures like this and sending them to him. When he comes home, she's the first one he goes to and she acts so differently with him. I know she misses him! She still sleeps in Drew's old room that belongs to Noah now. Noah likes our dogs, but not like the rest of us, so he's a little indifferent about Callie sleeping in his room each night. 

Other favorites include the obvious... our candlelight Christmas eve service, Christmas day and being with family. I don't take any of these moments for granted! What was the favorite part of your weekend? I would love to hear your answers! I am always interested in how people spend a holiday and the things they love about the day. 

Here are a few of my favorite moments from Christmas day.

They keep me laughing and alternately shaking my head. It was the BEST day. 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends! I'll see you back here tomorrow. Love to all! 

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! It's crazy to think that we're down to the last two weeks of the year. I said this last week, but I do plan on posting tomorrow and all of next week. I'll be home, none of us are traveling, so I have the time. Plus, I have ideas for posts next week, some of which are really fun. You should check back everyday! 

I'll jump in with Rebecca Jo and this week's list of things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for our pets! I honestly think we would be miserable people if we didn't have our dogs to keep us entertained. Pictured are Crash (10 years), Chip (5 years) and Oakley (the black one that belongs to my son Graham who is 1 year). Yesterday's post mentioned our German Shephard Callie, who is seven years old. And yes, we have four dogs in our house. Three are ours and Oakley is Graham's. Before all of these dogs was the greatest of all pups, Andy the Wonder Dog. 

Crash

Chip

Oakley

And just for fun, Chip when he was tiny puppy.

I did not grow up with dogs in the house. We had a dog, but he lived outside. I did grow up with cats, both inside and outside of the house. Todd grew up with dogs in his house and was determined that he was going to talk me into agreeing to the same for our own sons. I'll never forget how this came to be—Todd talked me into getting a dog while we were at church on a Wednesday night. Not only did we get "a dog", but a giant dog that weighed in at a whopping 130lbs, give or take a few. Andy was a gentle giant that I nicknamed Andy the Wonder Dog. 

This picture was taken in the summer of 2012. This is our oldest son Graham driving a Jeep on his own with Todd's friend riding shotgun and Andy in the backseat. I would guess that Graham was six or seven in this picture. Todd's friend lived on a farm, so he was driving across open pastures. Well, pastures dotted with cows. 

Andy came to us when he was three years old, the same age that Jonah and Noah were at that time. I'll always remember this because of that fact. He was three and came to us as a perfect dog—already house broken, NOT A PUPPY, mild mannered, gentle, friendly and perfect. 😉 We had him until May of 2012 when he died from something similar to Alzheimer's disease that people have. That's not what they called it for him, but his brain stopped sending signals to his body to tell it to do things like eat and use the bathroom. He was such a good boy! It took me years before I could talk about him without crying. He was our first family dog, and then came Crash. He was already named that when we got him, if that tells you anything...I won't get into it, but if you want to read an old and really funny blog post from those days, you should go read this post that I titled, My Life is a Comedy. 

What I said in that old post became true and Crash finally settled down into an excellent old man of a dog. Just tonight he and I spent some more quality time together driving around to look at Christmas lights. I had to run to my best friend's house to drop off something, so I took that opportunity to ride around with him again. In case you didn't read yesterday's post, we have now done that for two nights in a row.

This is the street we love the most that we've seen so far. I remember hearing they did this last year, but the whole street, which is about a half mile long, strung lights over the road and every single house put out decorations. Isn't that amazing? Last night when I drove down it again, the homeowners were outside dressed up as Christmas movie characters and handing out candy canes. They tried to talk me into stopping to let Crash hang out with them. He probably would have loved that!

So, I said all of this to say one thing—I am thankful we have pets to help us enjoy our life. Now that the boys are grown and our house has grown quiet, we cherish the joy and laughter they bring us. For instance, did you know that dogs know how to tippy toe? Both Crash and Chip tippy toe around the house when they're in trouble. I promise you that this is a true statement and my stepdad Bill can attest to the fact. 

I'm thankful for lots of other things as well, but since I've made this post about #allthedogs, I decided to keep the focus of this on them. They're worth it and deserve the attention. Todd and I often joke that we like dogs way more than most people. 🤣 What about you? What's something you're thankful for this week? I'd love to hear your answer for this! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!

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Share 4 Somethings (December 2022)

 

Happy day to you, friends! I don't know which day I'll post this, but regardless of the day, it's a bonus post. Tis the season for them, apparently! I'm linking up with Heather one last time for her Share 4 Somethings link party. I have LOVED being a part of these over the last couple of years and was saddened to hear that she wasn't going to continue on with them in 2023. Many bloggers I know and love also enjoy this link party, so I had a thought...since I took over Anne's monthly Currently posts and had such a great response, I decided to offer the same thing to Heather. (About all those links...I just want you to know that I was not the creator of those link parties. They were and I want to make sure they get the credit for such creative ideas!) Like Anne, Heather took me up on the offer, and I am excited to start! Below is all the information you need to know to schedule your posts for this beginning in January. I hope you join us in the fun! 

I will host this party on the LAST SATURDAY of every month, beginning with Saturday, January 28th, 2023. Each and every month, the topics will remain the same. We will talk about the THINGS we are loving, reading, learning and eating. If you joined in with Heather for these parties, you'll notice she used the past tense of her choice words each year. I decided to make my version the present tense of the words I chose, because that's how I see things like that I'm loving—as a current and ongoing thing. I hope you'll make plans to join us! I am excited to read about recipes that you'll share in the months to come...I am always in need of some dinner inspiration, my friends, particularly if it's something both healthy and delicious. 

And with that last, I'll segue into the rest of this fun post. I already told you what I loved this month in the top paragraph, so I'll continue on with something I gleaned this month. I gleaned that I thrive under pressure sometimes. Notice I said sometimes, not all the times. I'll give you an example. The last two weeks have been insanely busy. I've had so much going on that I have barely had time to stop and savor the moments and catch my breath. I say that but I am not complaining about it, I promise. I love this time of year and all that it brings! I've had my Christmas worship night and the rehearsals leading up to it, I've had work three days a week, I've had get-togethers with friends who wanted to meet up, I went out of town for one full day (eleven hours and one full tank of gas), I have had to finish shopping, and then I've had all the normal things the rest of you also have—shopping, cooking, meal planning, wrapping, Christmas gift shopping, cleaning the house, etc. Throw in my birthday and being sick last week for good measure and you get the gist of what I'm saying. 

Because of all that, I've been SUPER organized about all the things I need to remember and I've been getting things done. I've never felt so productive in all of my life. So, I gleaned that when it counts, I thrive under pressure. As a side note that I talked about in yesterday's post, and because I didn't have enough going on, I started a huge writing project Tuesday afternoon. This isn't the writing project that I'm committed to with my writing team friends from church...(the four of us write Bible studies together, for anyone who didn't know)...this is something new and exciting that the Lord gave to me as an idea during my quiet time on Tuesday morning. I was praying and catching up with my Bible reading, and He put this thought in my heart. I don't want to share too much in case I don't follow through with it, but it involves me and writing a book. (Don't be surprised, I've actually written several but never had them published.) I was greatly inspired and had to start writing before I forgot about all the ideas I had. The only other person I've shared this with besides you is my oldest son Graham. I'm excited at what could be to come in 2023! 

(Pictured above are my beautiful writing friends. Left to right is Barbee, myself, Amy and Lynn.)

Something I braved in December were the Christmas crowds. I have to daily remind myself to be patient, kind, loving and all the other things God's word says in Galatians 5:22-23. I'll share that passage below:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Something I achieved this month are all the things I have already listed above! It's been a great month and while I have loved almost every minute, I will be glad when the hustle and bustle is over and done with. Maybe that's the reason January always feels slow. Maybe it's because we needed that after a full and merry month. 

Talk about weary. I also always look forward to the week between Christmas and the new year.

What's something you loved, gleaned, braved or achieved this month that you're proud of? I'd love to hear from you! Thank for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

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Share Four Somethings is a monthly link-up that Heather started back in 2018. The concept was to share the same four topics every month as a way to look back and recap your month. While some topics have changed over the years, some have remained. (We're looking at you, Something Loved!) We have enjoyed this monthly reflection as well as getting to know the others who have joined on this adventure.

The link-up opens on the last Saturday of every month and will stay open for three weeks. The topics for 2022 were Something Loved, Something Gleaned, Something Braved (and NEW option Something Saved), and Something Achieved. In 2023, we will share the THINGS we are loving, reading, learning and eating. I hope you will join us each month! Just write your post, maybe add a picture or a few and then link back here to me at Overflowing with Thankfulness. I can't wait to read all that you have to say in the coming year. Thanks in advance for joining in with us! 

a couple of my favorite Christmas songs and the story of how my blog came to be

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I have a funny story about this picture above. I saw my sister post it last year on Instagram and when I enlarged it, I realized that those were my words that I'd written in an online devotional for Tirzah Magazine. The image is one they created, but the words were mine. She had no idea! Isn't that hilarious? And so crazy that the huge internet can sometimes feel small. 

I thought I'd share a few favorite Christmas songs I love today and the story of how my blog came to be a thing. I hope you enjoy reading this post!

First up is Come Thou Long Expected Jesus by Meredith Andrews. 

Next up is an old favorite: Heaven Everywhere by Francesca Battestelli.

I believe that music is an excellent thing to use in your home. It fills the quiet spaces, it brightens the mood and the right kind is relaxing to dogs, at least according to Dad and me. I've taken to leaving some on for them when I leave the house. One day last week, I even left a YouTube screensaver going for them, one for dogs. It was Christmas-y and there were birds chirping and flitting about. I'm not sure how much they enjoyed it, but it never hurts to have something to distract them with. 

I can't remember if I've ever shared the story of how my blog title came to be. I started it in 2007 with my first post, as I mentioned last week, but I didn't come back to write much that year. I really started posting faithfully in 2008, at a time in life when I was in the throes of raising young boys. Life was busy and complicated, but the exact day that I started this blog was on a day when I had a panic attack over all that my husband had going on right then. It was in the winter or the spring of that year and he was in the hospital recovering from a major abdominal surgery and a hernia repair. He had a tumor in his stomach that everyone thought was cancerous, but it was caused by the acid in his stomach. They were never fully sure it wasn't cancer until they were able to get in and do a biopsy. It wasn't, but I remember being overwhelmed at all that an abdominal surgery is—very difficult on the patient and with lots of iv's going in and out of everywhere, including an NG tube. 

As a young 30 year old mom with four boys aged 4-8 years old, all of this was hugely overwhelming. I wasn't able to leave his side hardly at all, but at the insistence of both him and one of his nurses, I left one day and came home to take a shower and to see the boys. I don't remember them being here, though...I guess they were staying with grandparents at the time, but while I was at home and in what was then an office upstairs, the phone rang. I answered it and it was the mom of one of his friends that volunteered on the fire department with him. I'll never forget her not asking about him, but asking about me and how I was coping. (She had recently lost her own husband to cancer.) I probably wasn't truthful at first and probably replied with the standard, "I'm fine, how are you?", but she wouldn't accept it. She told me that it was okay to let my guard down with her and that I could NOT be strong for a few minutes. I immediately burst into tears! We ended up being on the phone for close to an hour, and after I hung up, I wrote and published my first blog post. I wish I could find it for you, but I have tried several times and can't go back that far. 

Anyway, Todd turned out just fine, he eventually got to come home from the hospital after a seven day stay, he recovered well and life went on. I was overwhelmingly grateful for all of this and feeling all the things when I came across a couple of Bible verses in my quiet time one day. These are Colossians 2:6-7 in the NLT translation. I'll write them out for you.

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grown down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. 

I changed the title once or twice, but I always came back to those verses. Even if things had turned out vastly different, I can honestly say that God has been incredibly good and faithful to our family. He has carried us through countless things and several health scares, like the one I shared about Todd in the early days of our family. I can promise you that I mean every single word I say when I say that I am thankful for the goodness of God and all that He is to me. I literally cannot even imagine what my life without Him would look like, and it's something I don't want to even think about. One of my sayings is that even for a believer, life is hard, but without Jesus it would feel impossible. What those verses say above is true—He has made my faith strong through His word and He has caused me to overflow with thankfulness. I hope that my blog always reflects Jesus and the love He offers. 

Many of you have blogs. How did your blog and title come about? I would genuinely love to hear this story. I probably know a few of the stories already, but I love to share and read this kind of thing. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all. 

weekending/Hello Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. 

Can you even believe it is Christmas week? I am shaking my head at this, but I am grateful that I don't have much of anything else to do. I have one gift left to buy and that will get done on Wednesday, and I have wrapping to do between now and then, in between working two days this week. Have you done your wrapping yet? We have very few gifts to wrap this year. The boys are each getting one gift, because what they wanted was expensive. Then we have about five additional gifts, but I've always wrapped at the last minute. I kind of love that Christmas is on the weekend, because I have all the week to prepare. I don't know if my family likes that Christmas is on the weekend, though. 

We had a great weekend! It was busy and full of family. On Friday my dad came over, but we stayed in since it was cold and because he didn't feel great. (His back really hurts sometimes.) I was so glad he could still come over, and we had a nice day together. Before he got here I cleaned and caught up on my Bible reading again. I keep getting behind and have to spend an hour catching up. After I took Dad home, I went straight to my mom's house since Todd was working that night. Bill made the most delicious chicken tortilla soup for dinner, of which I ate two bowls. After that we just kind of talked and I showed Mom how to comment on my blog from her phone. 🤣 I love you, Mom! Look how beautiful their house looks all decked out for Christmas.

Bill outdid himself...it looks way better than what my blurry pictures convey. 

I came home and watched part of a movie, but I wasn't very into it and stopped paying attention. I think I ended up turning on Gilmore Girls and went to bed pretty early. Saturday we celebrated Christmas with my husband's family! I woke up early and watched this adorable movie.

Then we all went to his parent's house and stayed later than we normally would. The boys all ended up leaving there earlier in the afternoon to come home and take care of the dogs, but Todd and I went out to dinner with his brother and his wife. Tim and Tracy live near Nashville, but we only see them once a year. They have three sons and one came with his girlfriend (he's their 19 year old) and the other two are sixteen and eleven. Nathan (the 19 year old) is three weeks younger than my Jonah and Noah. They grew up being called the triplets, because they're all the same age and height. Jonah's girlfriend came with him as well—it was a really good day. I took a few pictures, but just a few.

The top two are Drew with Oakley. He's also known as the animal and kid whisperer. It's the sweetest! The third picture is our nephew Joseph and the bottom one is Zeke. And that's all I took! I did feel very present and in the moment, which is always nice and never something I regret. 

And on Sunday morning, Todd and I were at church early. 

I always, always stop by the restroom first to put my in-ear monitors in place (it goes under my clothes), and I always do an outfit check in this mirror before walking into the the sanctuary. 

I am going to miss this view when it all gets packed away after Christmas! 

We sang the best songs for worship yesterday! I was excited to sing yesterday when I got there, because Christmas time is my favorite time to help lead worship. After church yesterday, I came home to get comfy and stayed in for the rest of the day. I took a nap, I worked on this blog post and started a few others for the week, I ate dinner, then Drew came home to eat something and I watched a couple of movies, ending with one of my favorites. Can you guess what it is by these pictures?

It has Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Claire Danes, Luke Wilson, Dermot Mulroney, Amy McAdams, Luke Wilson...

It's one of my favorite movies! I would say the highlight of my weekend was having dinner with my brother and sister-in-love on Saturday after our Christmas celebration. We never get to do that and we had so much that we sat there for a couple of hours after we finished dinner and Tracy had dinner # 2, because she got hungry again. 🤣 

She'll kill me if she knows I posted this, but it cracks me up! One of these was mine and one was hers, she was not drinking both. It was a great weekend. What was the highlight of your weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all.

P.s. The movie was The Family Stone. 😉

Wednesday in the Word

 

Happy Wednesday, friends. 

I hope that by the time you read this you've spent time with Jesus. I don't always have that time with Him early in the morning, but by seven thirty or eight each morning, I am sitting down to pray and to read the Word of God. I don't tell you this to shame you, I say that to encourage you to do that and never to neglect time with Him every day. We have time to shop or watch tv or talk on the phone or play on social media, but have you spent time with Jesus? Do you spend as much time talking to Him about something as you do talking to others about something? These are good questions to ponder in your heart—and on that note, I am going to share a verse with you that Pastor Chuck read to us in the sermon Sunday, one that won't quite leave me alone.

But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. Luke 2:19

There are so many things going on in so many of our lives right now, and if not in our own lives, then in this world we live in. Do you ever just observe all that goes on around you in any given moment? Do you sit and wonder how people ever get by without the hope of Jesus and the knowledge that His Word is true? I was out doing Christmas things with Dad yesterday and I had that thought. People were hurrying in and out of stores quickly and so few were taking the time to see the others near them. There was a sense of being frantic and as much fun as Dad and I had together, it made me sad to see that reaction in people. 

On the flip side of that, are you ever just completely overwhelmed with something that you know was a move from the hand of God in a certain situation? I witnessed such a thing just Monday night. I have a friend whose sister has cancer and had to go to Mayo Clinic for surgery and the outcome was far more than we had ever dared hope for or could even imagine. God provided a miracle to my friend's sister and to her family and I, along with many others, had the privilege of being a tiny part of it as someone who prayed for her the day of her surgery. We had the faith to believe that God could give her a miracle, but we didn't know if He would. When we don't understand why or why not God does something, I refer to that as His sovereignty. We don't have to understand, but we can know and trust that He is sovereign and we know from Isaiah 55:8-9 that His ways are far better than our own.

Do you ever wonder what Mary must have felt, the night she gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God that we read about in Luke 2? You can read the whole story in Luke 2:1-20. I love the verse above: she treasured up all those things in her heart and meditated on them. That word used for treasuring is from a Greek word that means to preserve or to keep close or safe. Why do we preserve things? We do that to keep them safe or to be forever preserved in time. Maybe Mary wanted to keep these things safe in her heart where she knew it would be forever preserved in time.

This makes me think of where we are right now in the time we live in. There are so many things going on around us in the dark world we live in and I have so many thoughts about all of it, but I keep the thoughts hidden in my heart and only those I am closest to know them. I talk to Jesus about them, because He knows what is in my heart and because sometimes I imagine Him sitting with me at my kitchen table while I have coffee and pray. I imagine my prayer as our conversation, much like I would have with my best friend. 

When I have this time with Him and pray these prayers and thoughts, I am keeping them safe in my heart for that moment, because I am waiting on Him to act and to make a move. I know and trust that He will at any given moment and I don't know what His move will be, but I have the faith to know and believe that He will help us through whatever happens in the future.

When my friend whose sister got that unexpected good report from the doctors there at Mayo Clinic, I know her heart was overwhelmed. Don't you know that Mary was overwhelmed with what was happening that holy night in Bethlehem? Don't you think she had many questions about what was to come? Maybe she had questions, maybe she didn't—but she believed and trusted in the Lord.

Don't so many of us have questions right now, in this present day?

I don't talk about my thoughts much, because they're reserved for Jesus. I can do that and leave my concerns and burdens at His feet and I trust Him with the outcome. When I pour out my heart to Him, He brings me peace that surpasses all understand (Philippians 4:7). When I talk to others about them, I find myself flustered and anxious.

Mary knew what had happened to her and she trusted the Lord because He sent to her an angel to tell her what would take place. She believed in her heart. She didn't have to talk to others, because she knew that what she had heard was true.

Today we have the Bible, which is the Word of God. John 1:1 tells us, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

If you have faith that God is who His Word says He is, you have to trust in Him. If you have faith and when you trust Him, don't you long for Heaven? Our world is stained dark with sin and sin is what separates a sinner from God. The only way back to Him is through His Son, Jesus. Jesus is the Light of the world and He is our hope and our salvation. When I look around me, I long for a place I've never seen and I long for Jesus to return for us, our long expected King. 

I am going to leave you with some lyrics to a song I've had on repeat all week and the link to a video on YouTube. Watch the video and pay attention to the lyrics and turn it into your prayer, your praise and confession to God the Father and His Son, Jesus. 

Here is a link to the song and below are part of the lyrics to the song. 

Come, thou long expected Jesus

Born to set thy people free

From our fears and sins release us

Let us find our rest in thee

Israel's strength and consolation

Hope of all the earth thou art

Dear desire of every nation

Joy of every longing heart

Born thy people to deliver

Born a child and yet a king

Born to reign in us forever

Now thy gracious kingdom bring

By thine own eternal spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone

By thine own sufficient merit

Raise us to thy glorious throne

By thine own sufficient merit

Raise us to thy glorious throne

I pray these words, the song and the lyrics to that song are a blessing to you. Don't just listen, turn them into your praise to the Lord. He alone is worthy of all our praise, if you're a believer and follower of Him. Speaking of that, do you know Him? If not, don't wait! Reach out to someone today, none of us are promised tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. 

Jen.