Too cute!

Sweatin to the re-packing of lights

Funny...... just a few weeks ago I faintly remember looking around my "Christmas't out" house thinking "OH, this is so pretty". Walking through every room, I would instantly turned on the lights to the numerous trees. I flipped switches to every animated trinket that wished me a "merry little Christmas." Lit candles of the seasons scent & plugged in potpourri pots with another blending fragrance making my house smell like a Yankee store. For weeks I went around humming cheery little songs....

NOW... only few weeks later......
I stare at the Christmas stuff wishing that I could hire someone to come and pack it all away. My trees look like too much work, my trinkets sit motionless for the most part. My youngest is my fearless one, who ignores my glares when he hits the annoying snow man blow up thing. Of course when I saw it in the store I had to have it, now threaten anyone who turns it on.
The boxes and tubs I stashed in the middle bedroom, loom waiting for me to sort through and pitch a lot of stuff I no longer use. Why I decided to wait til after Christmas? I have no clue. I should have chucked it when I pulled out what I wanted the first time thru the pile of Christmas pasts. I should call my mother and make her go thru it with me, seeing how she is the one that gave me all her old “no longer uses, but has been in the family for years” decorations. Hmmm. My daughter and son should experience the “Blessing” of the recycled Christmas decorations. ~~ Good idea!- I will take the tubs to their house so they can go thru them... like I did ... after a few years :-)

Do you remember Christmas EVER being like this when we were little?

I have to admit..... the ONLY thing I really don’t want to take down is my nativity scene... I still love to plug in the lights, I had placed under the burlap in which they rest.

I love seeing the scene not only with my eyes, but with my heart. Oh, how I wish I could have been there.

To hear His cry amongst the sounds of the animals, the happy laughter of His mother and Joseph.

To feel the warmth on my face from the star cutting through the night.

To turn and see the wise-men as they humbly carried their gifts for the King of Kings.

To hear the staff the Shepard’s carried, softly striking the ground as they moved closer.

To be blinded by tears as I fall to my knees before my Savior.

You know, One day.... I will see my Savior.. And just like my heart imagines , I will fall before my Lord blinded by tears to my knees.

I look at the nativity scene and long to go back for just one moment. To hold that baby born in such a humble place. But today, He holds me. Tell me..... How good is our God!

Oh, how depressing!

My old one:


My new current one:

My Christmas workout

Amazing weekend! I seriously don’t think I could have had an more awesome Christmas weekend..... Let me do a breakdown, a glimpse at my heart.

Friday: Had to work :-( My hubby shut down for that day, so he got to play hookie and call me a few times to “remind me” that he didn’t have to work, and I did. ~ Did I ever mention he was a brat? :-) I did get to bless a wonderful woman at work that day though.. My hubby and I had prayed about what to get her, and from the look on her face, and the tearful thanks followed with “you have no idea how much I needed this”, HE was right on it... Again! God is so faithful!
Friday: (night) went shopping......... yeah, not real bright. We got all the men & women from the Libre house’s their Christmas gifts, and some few extras for people that were coming over to spend Christmas with us. Came home and did some prep cooking for the meal on Saturday.

Saturday: We slept in til 8:30...... First time I can remember sleeping in...........well for a LONG time! We drank coffee, sat around for a half hour then began to cook. I have to brag here for a minute. MY MAN CAN COOK!! :-) plus he is downright gorgeous in the kitchen! We made 2 types of chili ~ his famous sweet chili and my new white chili.
We were at the ministry office by 10:30 and at 11:00 toys-for-tots dropped off their packages... we had 29 families gifts stacked in one of the back rooms waiting for pickups at 1:00. This year thru the jail chaplaincy our ministry“adopted” 15 kids and delivered Christmas gifts to the children of inmates. During the tv interview, toys for tots called and asked if there were any other kids that we knew were not being helped. So that’s how we got linked with T4T. What a God send! @ 11:30 was our Christmas banquet for all the volunteers in our ministry which was huge, since we had us and the helpers from JC and T4T there too! It was awesome! God fed the multitudes and had leftovers of course! Everyone was laughing, telling stories, and sharing what God had done in their lives this past year.
At 1 the wives, husbands, grandparents of the inmates started arriving.... I got to do what I love... Talk. :-) While they waited in line, we laughed, talked and got tons of hugs from women who were amazed getting the phone call the night before saying “come pick up Christmas presents for your kids! All free” Some cried, some just smiled... All were told WHO they were from. Tiny gifts from God who sees them in their time of need.
After the gifts were passed out.. And everyone went home, except the men & women in our homes and us.... we delivered 13 huge boxes of food to families in need. The whole bed of Sim’s truck was packed out with bags of apples, potatoes, boxed pizzas, the boxes stacked high, and frozen packages of omelet mix to be baked on Christmas morning. Home after home, we drove around and God put it on our hearts of different families. One, I had been ministering to for a while.... she’s young, has a little one,.... and always seems so embarrassed with how her family acts whenever I come over. Her aunt, grandma (who live downstairs), etc all try to “play the system” and ask for anything and everything to be given to them. She has never asked us for a hand out, never even taken anything that I try to give her but say “oh they need it worse than me.” when they have literally snatched it from my hands. Today I was determined. I knocked on her door and could tell she was surprised and happy to see me on a day I normally am not there. Behind me stood 6 men with arms full. She looked at me, them... and started bawling. She yelled up for her husband and said “Omgosh, hurry get down here, the church people are here and you wont believe what they have!” I grinned as this “standoffish” girl fell into my arms and cried. She hugged me, laughed, and cried more. I told her Merry Christmas and that God wanted to bless her. Her husband looked stunned and like he was about to cry when my husband hugged him and said “Merry Christmas, man! God is good!” The groceries streamed up the stairs and our men & women grinning like crazy. Afterwards, and a few more hugs from the shocked young mom, we left with her still standing in the window of the door waving, a baby on dads shoulders. Our men & women were quiet, happy.. Grateful.... at peace with what God had done in that young family.

You know, those “men & women” I speak of are a lot of X’es... x-gang bangers, x-drug addicts, x- prostitutes, x- pimps, x-dealers, etc.... That day... when I looked at their faces in the van afterwards... when all the boxes were delivered to shocked families........ I saw just what the Blood of Jesus can do in men & women with a past.

Saturday night: (we didn’t get done til almost 7 pm) we went home and kicked back.

Sunday- we went to church. Oh, one family of our jail ministry kids we adopted and delivered presents to last week has yet to miss a service.. They are absolutely the sweetest kids! They barely know me and all three are just loves! The two girls 9 & 5 just squeeze to my side wherever I am sitting and the 8 yr old boy just hugs on me and always is on the other side! The first day I took them to church the little one was on my lap and the two were plastered to both sides of me in the pew. They are so starved for a woman’s love. Sunday, when I picked them up they were standing out on the porch waiting grinning when the big blue van pulled around the corner. Jumping in they piled me with “gifts” little crafts that they had made for me. As I looked the one eyed santa I about cried. Such love these babies have, and pure gifts they give so freely. It breaks my heart knowing that they starve for someone to see worth in them. I of course cherished my gifts, and they beamed at each other and me as my teen sons spoke of the artistic abilities they have. Did I ever tell you how proud I am of my sons? They have an amazing heart of God!

Sunday after church: went seen Rocky movie... was GREAT!

Sunday night went to pastors house... then went home and opened up gifts with our family...the kids got tons of clothes, Me too! :-) my hubby has style too, lol... more so than me! I let him dress me.

CHRISTMAS: we went picked up the men & women from the home, dropped off brownies and juice for the “feed the homeless”~~ our ministry does it on Thanksgiving day, and another local one does it for Christmas... switch off. And went to our house. The guys & gals opened up the gifts... which some of them had a tough time keeping their composure... I never really thought about it til writing this... that it might be because some had never had anything to open before on Christmas or a family to spend it with. Some of these guys & gals come from an upbringing that statistically they should not have survived! We ate tons... kids all came over... parents came over......... we laughed, joked, ate some more..... and had a BLESSED birthday party!
******* I have a nativity scene that I painted... took me two years to finish..... My youngest son (13 yr) was excited about being able to put Jesus in the manger on Christmas day.
OH-- did I mention that I got on the scale Christmas night and wanted to wing it out the window? I weigh 170!! OMGOSH!! Sim and I have desided to get BACK into the workout and will start doing 45 minutes every night downstairs... together...... oh boy. If anyone remembers just how graceful I was when I was dedicated in my workout........yeah... this will not be pretty. :-) but we have insurance. & a blog to tell about it! LOL

My therapist thanks you!

This morning I read a email that sums up 99% of the emails I get. Thankfully I have a protector... Who is stronger than even the "email paranoia" that makes me scramble to the web and look it up on Hoax.com ~~ Email below~~
Just so you know.... I am done shopping! And wrapping! Amazing enough, my hubby didn't make it onto "cops" this holiday season. I did however remember to NOT put the empty wrapping paper rolls near him last night as I wrapped tile midnight (again). I hate to admit, I almost fell for his sweet "Honey can you hand me that roll please." I had ribbon being held between my teeth, stack of lopsided presents not cooperating as I tried to bundle them together using 4 different ribbon colors at once, when he asked in a voice that made me about drop it all. ALMOST. Thankfully- like I said I have a protector who showed me a vision.... or maybe it was a flashback of my gorgeous "Pirate" two nights ago. Anyway, my butt became firmly planted on the "weapon" for the remainder of the night.

Cute email
SUMMARY OF MY LAST YEAR ON THE COMPUTER:
I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258 th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually AlQaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

Thank you too for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us. I can live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

Oh, and don't forget this one either! I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician...

Have a wonderful day....

A South American scientist from Argentina, after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late

My Christmas workout

Ok, so maybe I am not "dancing to the oldies", kicking it with "Taebo", or bouncing on my "core" ball, but I am definitely working out!
This time I am bouncing all over the place, kicking it with the oldies in a much more dangerous place than my living room....... I am in the thick of the MALL! Women with blue hair and shopping carts! Since when did they put carts in malls anyway? I know I hide from the mall most of the year but really! Who's bright idea was it to put a weapon in the hands of last minute mall shoppers?

The night before last I came straight home from work, got picked up by the most handsome man alive (my hubby) and went to the mall. 4 hours later, my hubby's wallet thinner, and my hands about to rip off from the bags (no carts available- of course)and looking like a well fed pack mule (still need to lose about 20 lbs!).... I limped towards the light. The street light that is, underwhich we parked our truck.
Unloading my purple hands I pried myself up the 15 feet (felt like it) into my husbands "toy".. Ford truck, yellow & white with red pin stripe (actually looks really cool-- everyone always stares and comes up to it wherever we go.. I think its pretty, but men do that grunt thing, so must be a "manly" truck), chromed out wheel wells, and of course with a lift kit (15 feet-- ok maybe not that high, but when walking in heels for 4 hours dodging blue tanks on squeaky wheels, jogging behind someone who's stride is twice yours.. It FEELS 15ft!) OH, lets not forget the "Dukes of Hazard" horn. Did I ever mention my hubby is a kid trapped in a big body?

Anyway, I sighed as I sat elevated over all the other vehicles on my way finally home..Normally I use my children's strong arms to unload, but forgot I couldn't since it was for them that I battled the crazies that night! Do they even know the torcher we go thru for them? I am reminded why last year I said "Oh, just grow into them" when they said their pants were too big! I must have still been in the recovery stage from the "mall battleground"
So my hubby and I once again piled them on and squeezed thru the doorway. I was so thankful to be home!

I have to admit... I am one of the "weird" people who LOVE to wrap. I even have been known to go to my moms and wrap my own presents... Which she tapes shut with enough tape to hold together santas sleigh! Hmmm. She does know me.... I can not HELP but to snoop every year.. don't tell her but I still do! hehe!!

Anyway, back to my Happy Holiday workout saga..... I thought... "hmmm I will kick back, relax, wrap to my hearts content, and put enough ribbon on each present to make my kids pass around the pocket knife. (family tradition which they all moan about~ but secretly love) So on the floor I went, with piles of presents on one side, and my leftover wrapping paper from last year on the other. My husband supervised from the couch during the commercials and tormented me with the empty wrapping paper rolls when I stupidly placed them within his arms reach. A typical year.

I was dancing, while sitting, to the Christmas music in my head ignoring the "on guard" of my pirate husband, bent over farther than my gut will allow, color coordinating the perfect ribbons for each package when I tried to get up. Lets just say my hubby about made it on one of his favorite TV show "cops" when he started laughing at my hunched over creaking body while dodging his "sword". Hmmm, "Man beaten with tube from Christmas wrapping paper... Wife found "decorating" him with matching ribbon." Had a nice ring to it in my head at the time. He must have sensed it, because he said "come here sexy, give me a kiss" and laid his torment toy down..... Of course he knows I would forget what I was mad about after that statement!
So he didn't make it on cops yet.
but we are not done shopping either, or wrapping............

My workout......... I am thinking doing the "old" workout was much easier on this well fed body!
Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS~ enjoy Christ's birthday!

Women's Conference!

I am so excited!! God is so good!! The women's conference is coming together amazingly!! Such a God thing! We have our website up and running with it, and people are reserving spots! We only have 1000 seats so they are going fast! Friends from Atlanta are coming up, a dance team from Ohio state....etc. So our houses are gonna be full :-) I sure do wish some of you guys could come!
We are going to have a blast~ awesome team of singers, dance teams, speakers, LOL even Elvis I heard is making an appearance. We have tons of give-a-ways local Christian businesses gave us to give to the ladies.. Gift cards to a weekend get away! My hubby is making some sort of sling thing to beam rolled up t-shirts out into the crowd.. Everyone is pumped!
Had to share!
Check out our new addition to our website www.womenoflivingwater.org
Oh, did I tell you? All the left over money goes to help rebuild the building we were given as an outreach post! A place for all our "street babies"!
Woooooo, thats a whole different blog on what all God is doing there! :-) will have to write it up!