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! 

Friday Favorites, Merry Christmas 2022 edition!

 

Happy Friday, friends and Merry Christmas Adam! (Adam and Eve...Christmas Adam, Christmas Eve...get it??) 

First up on my favorites list is this image that Jen shared on her blog Wednesday. I was so busy on that day, that I forgot about the date and the fact that it was the winter solstice! 

I love this and wanted to share it here with you as well, because much like her and how winter is one of her favorite seasons, it's also one of my favorites! I would say that I love fall the most, with winter as a close second. My favorite thing about the winter season centers around one word—cozy (or hygge, which is Dutch, as it's called in Dutch). You should go and read Jen's post about this. It was my favorite kind of post! 

I have a whole board on Pinterest called The Cozy Season. You should go check it out! Just click on that title. I love this image below that I found on Pinterest! We all love a bucket list, don't we? 

I read one of the best articles online this week! It's called Tomorrow is Not Promised and it's written by my friend Heather that I mentioned in yesterday's Share 4 Somethings post. Her words are so true—life is short. We need to make that call, and we need to check on our friends. We never know what someone is going through and we all need each other! These kinds of articles are my favorite—the ones that challenge, inspire and make me think.

Along the line of articles, one of my favorite things from this week has been reading old blog posts from my early days of blogging. Here is one that I loved and had forgotten about, called The Character of my Kids. It's funny how some things never change about your kids, but I'll say this—Graham's leadership skills and "legalistic" personality have turned him into such a smart and kind young man. It's funny that I wrote about him that he was 12 at that time and going on 22, because now he is 23! And Drew, Jonah and Noah have remained almost the exact same as they were when I first wrote that blog post. 

- an old favorite picture of them taken during Christmas break -

I've been doing lots of reminiscing this week because I've been trying to find my earliest blog post in 2007. I have not been successful, but I've remembered some wonderful times with the boys. I say that, but I also want to tell you that they are my favorite ages right now. They're such nice guys, they make us laugh, they're kind, they're very helpful (all of them ALWAYS stop to help people they see stranded on the side of a road), they're loving, thoughtful and they're so much fun to be with. The Lord has given us the ability to love any age they're at and that has continued on through the years. 

Mom and me on Wednesday

Moving back to present day, Wednesday was my favorite day of the week! Mom and I had decided that this would be our annual day of last minute Christmas shopping and a yummy lunch that has nothing to do with Christmas food. So, I met her at the nail salon that morning at 9:30 and off we went! Don't her nails look beautiful? I have always loved peoples' hands, especially those of my husband, mom and dad. Mom's hands are so pretty to me and more familiar to me than my own. I took that picture to send to my sister Debi, who was the inspiration behind this nail idea.

I am smiling as I write this and look at this picture above not because it's my favorite, but because the 70's called and want their favorite outfit back. I won't say that I would never wear something that bright, but I'd definitely never wear something that bright on both the top and the bottom. The shirt is kind of cute, in my opinion, and would look good with jeans. The material was so soft and you know how I love a billowy shirt.

Our Christmas lights date night with the dogs was definitely my favorite night this week! This night was also a favorite for our dogs Crash and Chip.

Out of all the lights that we saw that were beautiful, our own flagpole Christmas tree is my favorite. We were driving down the street that runs perpendicular to ours and when I looked down our road, our beautiful tree stands tall and proud above lots of our neighbors' homes. 

I have some favorite outfits from this week!

It's been colder this week, so I've been wearing all my favorite cozy things. On the days that I worked, I came home and changed into my favorite black lounge pants from J Jill (They're flowy!) and my beloved Hallmark Christmas movie sweatshirt. It's my warmest and coziest shirt that I have and wear for lounging around the house. I've also dressed in layers, which is a favorite, like with the outfit I had on Sunday at church, and I've been wearing my favorite red sweater and this new magenta colored Nike sweatshirt I treated myself to with some birthday money. It's so cozy! I am also still loving my new and favorite purse that you see in the picture of me at church.

One last favorite that I don't have a picture of is that I bought a coat yesterday! It's one that I found at Walmart—it's a black puffy coat that is warm but also thin, and it's mid-thigh length. I can't wait to wear it this week! The temps dropped here yesterday and today our high is 15 degrees! Where my sisters live near Denver, their actual temperature dropped below zero. I can't even imagine! Cold weather at Christmas is my favorite! It makes it feel festive to me...I'll never forget last year when our Christmas day was hot. 

I'm not a hundred percent sure that I'm going to write a post for Monday, but regardless, the next time I write to you will be after Christmas! So, my friends, I hope that you and your families have a wonderfully beautiful, happy and Merry Christmas. I pray the day is everything that you hoped and need it to be! May the Lord Himself bless you, keep you close, be gracious to you, bring you peace and make His face shine upon you. 

(Numbers 6:24-26)

Even if I skip a post for Monday, I will be back Tuesday through Friday, so come check out some of the fun posts I have planned for next week! In case you missed out any of blog posts from this week, I'll list them below.

Monday was a weekend recap and the Hello Monday link-up.

Tuesday I shared a couple of my favorite Christmas songs with videos and the story of how my blog and blog title came to be.

Wednesday was a post that I titled Merry Everything- fun things and Christmas memories. and Wednesday's bonus post was the December edition of Share 4 Somethings, in which I shared some exciting news about continuing on with one of my favorite link parties. You should go check that post out and make plans to join in with us beginning on Saturday, January 28th, 2023! 

Thursday was the usual Thankful Thursday post, where several of us share all that we are thankful for that week. 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends. I appreciate all of you so much! Your encouragement and love mean a lot to me and I am so glad we've all found each others' blogs and that we're friends. Much love to you and Merry Christmas! 🎄

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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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. 

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.