An Early Christmas

We had an early Christmas at my Dad's house today...we had the best time. I love getting together with my family...eating, talking, playing, watching movies...eating some more:) We are so blessed to have one another. I love my family. It keeps getting bigger and I'm so glad. I love having a big family. We always have such a great time together. I love that we're so comfortable around each other...we can just be silly and laugh and make great memories!

We watched "White Christmas" and it is such a great movie, with a great happy ending.

We had so much food and opened gifts...the yougins' played hard all day. I am so thankful to the Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful family. I wouldn't trade them...I think they're keepers:)

I hope all of you have a great Christmas this year and make lots of memories...cherish these times with family and remember what this season is about. Our amazing, wonderful Creator.... Our Heavenly Father. I'm so blessed beyond measure to have Him in my life!

~Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57

A Mother's Rule of Life

Good morning everyone!! We are back from our Dallas trip. We went to visit my hubbys' sister and his brother-in-law and all our nieces and nephews. We had the best time! We don't get to see each other very often, but when we do, we pick up right where we left off. I am so thankful for the wonderful family they are and the relationship we have with them.

I've been trying to keep up my bible study every morning after the kids go to school. It's going great. I feel so good when the first thing I do in the morning, is spend time with God. I've been wanting to do better on my organization in our household. Sometimes it's easier than other times. My sis-in-law gave me a book to read and to help with this. She's read it and said it was a big help in getting started. It's called A Mother's Rule of Life. I read the first two chapters this morning. I really think it's a great book and will help me in starting to be more organized. It is about a real mother and housewife who homeschools and tries to run a household. She tells how she became so overwhelmed and how the Lord helped her in her journey as a mother and a wife....and how He wants us to serve Him. I'm really excited about this book!! Today, I will begin my making a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule of all the things needed to be done in our home. This is my first goal. It will start from the time we wake up, till the time we go to bed. I believe this is a start to a great way to become more organized. I believe the most important is to remember to give ourselves and our day to God first. He is the most important priority in our lives. Don't forget to talk to Him daily...when we spend time with God, we know what His will is for our lives.

I hope you all have a blessed day!! Isaiah 9:6 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Love This Lord's Day!

Today has been a blessed day! We had church this morning...we all came home and cleaned up the house..(it was getting a little messy...it always does with 3 boys in the house:)), and ate lunch.

I also made 2 loaves of bread for the week. Love the smell of bread baking! It's so good!

Tonight after night church, our Sunday School is having a Christmas party! Can't wait to spend time with great church family!

Today, I heard a great verse..."By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all." Hebrews 10:10

How awesome is that? God sent Jesus to die for us on a cross, rise again, and save us...once and for all! When we accept Jesus in our hearts...we are His for all eternity! What an amazing Father we have! He showed us how much He loves us, by giving Himself as a perfect sacrifice. Let's show Him how much we love Him. I pray that you know God as your personal Savior...now and forever. It's an amazing Love!

I'm sitting here drinking my morning coffee. It's another cold day. I think I look pretty silly. I'm in my Christmas pajama pants, a sweatshirt, and a scarf! LOL! I put the scarf on when I took the kids to school and it's just so warm, I didn't take it off:) I love scarves.

Anyway...back to my coffee....I love coffee. I love it iced, hot, or warm. I also will drink it black...preferably if I have something sweet to eat it with. I also love having creamer in it. My hubbys' favorite creamer is vanilla. I will try any creamer. Right now I have vanilla spiced rum. However, this morning I wanted some vanilla and there was only a tiny splash left...I wanted more. So I got some milk and vanilla extract and poured it in a cup and mixed it together. It turned out pretty good.

Then, while I was holding my little jar of vanilla I remembered I found a recipe for homemade vanilla extract on one of the other blogs I read. I thought it was a great idea and I think I'm going to try it out. Vanilla extract is pretty spendy....especially if you get the natural kind.

So here it is...from http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/:

6 Vanilla Beans

6 (4 oz jars)

24 oz. vodka

"I purchased the vanilla beans and recycled glass cork top bottles from Mountain Rose Herbs. The vanilla beans are sold by the 1 oz (which is 6-9 beans) for $9.00, making it about $1-1.50 per bean. The jars were $1.60 each. I purchased the vodka at my local liquor store for $10 for 750 ml (which I figured out is about 26 oz). So you are looking at less than $5 per 4 oz jar, compared to easily double that amount at your local health food store. And with reusable glass jars, you can save even more with future batches (if you are making it for yourself, that is). The beans smelled fabulous! I cut them down the center with scissors and then into 2 inch pieces and put them in the jars. I then filled each jar with vodka and put the top on! That’s it! You must steep them for 8 weeks. Once you have used half the jar, you can refill the jar to the top with more vodka to stretch it even more! Make sure to make a note of this when you send it for gifts. You can also save room to sweeten with a 3/4 tsp of rum per bottle after it has steeped."

Hope you enjoy this recipe. I'll try to start working on it soon and let you know how it turns out. I bet you'll like the blog "passionate homemaking" as well. She has lots of interesting things on there.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4

Rudolph is coming on t.v. tonight...I remember when I was a kid and couldn't wait till the annual Christmas movies would be aired on t.v. This is one of my favorite childhood Christmas movies. There are soooo many others, I can't name them all. My hubby and I did count the amount of Christmas movies the other night....we have 26!! We still don't have all the ones I want. I find them at local consignment shops and good will. I love some bargains:)

It really feels like winter outside! I love it...mostly when I'm able to stay inside:) This morning is the 2nd day I've gotten up early with my hubby...I say early, it was 6:30 to make coffee and homemade biscuits. I usually don't get up till 7:40 and the kiddos have to be at school by 8...LOL! We're always rushing in the mornings. I'm a big procrastinator......at least when it comes to getting out of bed!

I've been doing some reading in Phillipians the last few days. I know what an amazing God we have...but I'm still amazed when I'm reading His word and realize He wanted me to read those particular verses at that particular time....I love that feeling!!

Paul talks about how he's torn between 2 desires...one, wanting to live and the other wanting to be with Christ in Heaven. Sometimes I feel the same way. I love my family, friends, and the many blessings God gives me....on the other hand, how amazing would it be to be in the presence of God!! No worries....just worshipping and spending time with Him for all eternity!! I know I'll be there someday...and I look forward to that day....in the meantime I'll live my best for Him.

But, Paul also makes a good point. While we are here on this earth, we can be fruitful for Christ. We can let others see Him through us. That's what we are here to do. Sometimes I get caught up in all the other things I have going on in my life such as: being a mom, a wife, going to school, taking care of a household...that I forget what my main purpose is here on this earth. I wish things could slow down sometimes so we can do what we need to do for God...spend time with Him...learning what His word wants us to do. We have the power to do that! I think it just takes us prioritizing what's in our lives. God should be at the first of that list. He came here and died a criminal's death to save us! What an amazing gift! I know I'm going to try harder to let God know what He means to me....He is my All, my Protector, my Forgiver, my Shelter, and so much more. He is my Father!

Hope everyone has a wonderful night! Thank you for stopping by!

Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Good morning!! I got up early with my hubby this cold, wonderful morning and decided to catch up on everybodys blog. I've been gone this last weekend for a late Thanksgiving and haven't been able to read the blogs. I always love reading all about everyones week. Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving.


Christmas season is here!! It's officially December. I love this time of year...don't you? Celebrating our wonderful, amazing gift of Christ and all the blessings He brings us, decorating, and lots of baking and cooking.~sigh~ It truely is the most wonderful time of the year!


It is a very cold morning here. It got down to freezing last night. I'm sure when the kids wake up and see white for the first time over everything...they'll say..."Mommy it snowed!" I love their innocence! I'm really enjoying my coffee this morning!


Hope you all have a very blessed day! I have to get kiddos up and get ready myself for school. Take time today to reflect on the many blessings God has sent your way!

The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6

I don't have much time to do a long post...I have to go to class today and hopefully finish my math class:) I just wanted to say I hope you all have a wonderfully, blessed day!! Take time to reflect on all we have to be thankful for...all the blessings Christ gives us daily. What an amazing Father we have. Take some time and spend it with Him.

~God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3

~God saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renwal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:5-7

~Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20

~"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10