Trimming the Tree

We FINALLY got the tree up yesterday. I usually have it up much earlier so we can enjoy it for a longer amount of time, but maybe I'll just leave it up longer than usual this year. We got the tree ready to decorate and put in the movie Christmas Vacation and got a snack ready to enjoy while decorating. Then we began to dig out the ornaments. When we got married, we began a tradition of buying an ornament every time we took a trip anywhere. So needless to say we have a good many now. But I love getting them out and saying, "oh, remember when we went to..."! It's a great trip down memory lane. Of course we have about half a dozen or more ornaments from Disneyworld!! We have ornaments from Virginia, North Carolina, Savannah, Florida, St. John, the Bahamas, Gatlinburg. Sounds like we need to get off the East Coast some time, huh? But that's all the ones I can remember. We have multiples from some of those. But I do love them. The ornaments mean something to me, and I like that. Dad has also begun a tradition of giving us all a Baldwin ornament every year. These are brass ornaments that are so ornate and every year they come out with new designs. So we have about ten or more of these. Brian and I decided tonight that one day we will have a "fancy" tree that has the Baldwin ornaments on it and white lights and then have a "fun" tree that has our travel ornaments and colored lights on it. That will be fun and then everyone can really see all the Baldwin ornaments all together. They are so pretty. Here are a couple of them. Notice that Santa's rocking chair has Christmas cookies in it and the book, Twas The Night Before Christmas! And Santa's cozy quilt is thrown over the back of the chair.

So we had an evening full of Christmas cheer. And now the living room is all cozy with soft Christmas lights and decorations. I love it!! I think I might go warm up some of my recently purchased nestle hot chocolate and sit and enjoy it all. What a great way to end the day.

Turkey, dressing and Pie, Oh My!!

What a nice time we had at my sister-in-law's house. Ashlie and Clark have enough room in their beautiful home to hold all of us adults and kids quite comfortably. We all slept over, except mom and dad. Poor mom and Clark, they had to get up and go to work this morning--yuck! But what a good time we had and SO MUCH good food! We had TWO turkeys, one smoked and one roasted. We had a ham that mom and dad brought and tons of casseroles. Brian loved that! And desserts...we had chocolate pie that was just sinful it was so good, and a pumpkin roll and red velvet cupcakes. Too much! I felt like I need to try it all, and I did! We had plenty for left-overs too. So Brian and I had thanksgiving dinner again tonight at home, minus the green bean casserole I made b/c I left it at Ashlie's on accident, how sad. More for them I guess. We didn't need it anyway.

But it was just a lovely day all around. It was full of good conversation and the kids kept us laughing. Short example: Mom, Courtney and I were in the office with Wade, my brother's 3 year old son, and he was telling all of us that we were characters from Scooby-Doo. This is one of his new favorite shows. I was Daphne, Jennifer was Velma b/c she has glasses now, and mom was Shaggy (not sure how that worked out!) and then he told Courtney she was the ghost. And she said okay. Then he backed up and looked at her with furrowed brow and a worried look and he slowly walked into the foyer and ran as fast as he could into the living room. Clark later told me that when he went into the living room, he noticed that Wade looked strange and he asked Wade what was wrong. He said "there's a ghost." and Clark said "where?" and Wade told him it was in the office. Clard said "there's no ghost Wade" and he said "yes there is!" and then began to cry. He was very scared and upset!! So Clark had to come in and find out what was going on and why Wade was so scared. How funny what goes on in those little minds of theirs! SO CUTE.

I thought everyone might like to see a picture of the kids. Jennifer's kids are getting so grown up. Courtney is now as tall as I am. Unbelievable. Time flies. The pictures of all the kids at the fireplace was funny, it's hard to get all the kids to cooperate simultaneously! But at least you can see all the kids together. And I also include a picture of my pumpkin log that I was very proud of. I don't bake very often so this a big thing for me! It turned out to be quite good. Yay me! So I hope everyone had a great holiday! Enjoy the photos.>

Thanksgiving Day

Well, it's almost midnight as I post this so I will consider it officially Thanksgiving Day. We have so much to be thankful for every year but especially this year. I feel like it has gone so fast but a lot has happened and a lot hasn't happened (and sometimes that's a good thing if you know what I mean!). Here's a few things I'm thankful for:

Our progress in the adoption process, and I'm SO thankful that the paperwork is done!

My family is healthy, minus a few colds here and there, but God has blessed us this year with a healthy family once again.

I'm thankful that we are going to gather all together tomorrow and eat turkey and my mom's delicious dressing, casseroles, and lots of dessert, and we will share love and laughs.

I am also thankful that this year brought no major catastrophies with our house! Yay! That's a big one!

I'm thankful that God continues to teach me more about Himself.

I'm thankful that Brian is still enjoying his job at the office.

I'm thankful that we get to come home to a cozy house everyday.

I'm thankful that once we get home we enjoy being there and with each other.

I'm thankful for God's faithfulness to me despite my lack of it.

I'm thankful for our church and for the friendships we've made there.

I'm thankful for the new addition to my brother's family---Yay Brooks!

We are blessed with a lot here. I could go on and on. There's a lot to enjoy in life, and then there are things that are difficult, things we would rather have removed from our lives. But there is purpose even in those things. Sometimes my focus gets fixed on the things on want to see go, those hard, ugly things that make my life difficult. I become fixated on those. But I have to do like I'm doing now, and ask God to open my eyes to all the good things that He has given to me to enjoy. Sometimes, because they have always been there, I take them for granted. Like my family for instance, and my home. And even the beauty in nature. If we sit and think, really think and take notice, we would see all that we've been given and our hearts would pour out gratitude to Him. When we are thinking about all we have to be thankful for it becomes a little more difficult to complain...our complaining turns to praise! We just have to shift the focus. That's what I want to do more of.
Will you join me? Let's start today!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!

Beauty Among Friends

There's nothing like sitting down and visiting with a friend you've known for years and years. Being known, really known, without having to explain anything about your past because they already know you. I appreciate this a lot more now after moving away from the town in which I grew up. Starting new friendships can be fun and refreshing and rewarding but it is definitely a challenge. I found this quote and wanted to send it out to all my friends (family counts as friends too!) reading this blog. Thank you for being there and I am so grateful to God for all of you.

"Special friends strike a resonant chord in your heart, there is something about them, some aspect of beauty or goodness that reminds you of God. I have an inkling that when you see the face of God in heaven you will say, "Yes, I always knew You!" It was Him all along that you loved whenever you were with that treasured person. In friendship, God opens your eyes to the glories of Himself, and the greater the number of friends with whom you share deep and selfless love, the better and more clear the picture of God you will have." Joni Eareckson Tada

Thank you for reflecting the glory of God to me through your friendship. Love you all.

In Celebration of Our Birthdays and Anniversary

October is always a fun month b/c we both have out birthdays and our anniversary. This year we celebrated both by going to St. Simon's Island. We decided to stay at The King and Prince. So Friday evening we headed out to Brunswick. We had a great ride. Brian made us a cd with music we BOTH like. Our taste in music is so different, but there are some songs we agree on so we just mixed those up and got them on a cd. Brian has gotten me to venture out a little and listen to some "new" stuff. I still can't get him to listen to my Disney cd's though! So we listened to our new cd and talked. It was a fun ride. I love road trips with Bri!! We always have good laughs and conversation.


I put a picture of the building our room was in down at the bottom of the entry. You can see our room on the bottom floor right behind our car. The hotel had a main building and then several separater buildings around it. We were in the Oglethorpe House. The room was not right on the water but close. It was a big room with a little kitchenette. You could tell it was old though with the musty smell and older tub and faucets. It hadn't been updated in a while BUT it was SO cozy! We could get the room dark in the afternoons which means it was a great room for the perfect nap!
We ate delicious food while we were there and the shopping was excellent. There was a cute little village area with cute stores and restaurants close by. The weather while we were there was PERFECT... chilly but sunny!!! Great for walking. And the water was beautiful, so sparkly in the sun. One morning while waiting for the brunch to start at the hotel, we sat in a swing on the lawn right off the beach and looked at the water. It was incredibly relaxing. It really was one of the most relaxing trips we've had. I don't know why that was. But it's one for the history books! I'm so thankful that we've been able to take many trips together. I love getting away with him, alone, without the stresses of work around him and on his mind. It's nice to just be able to concentrate on one another. I know Brian's thankful for that too. It's easier to do that I'm sure when there aren't kids running around. So I know things will change soon. We want to enjoy this last bit of time just the two of us by doing as much of that sort of things as we can. But it was just a wonderful trip and I'm grateful that we got to go. Here are some pics! Enjoy.

Beauty

You all know that I love the Fall. There is something about it. The colors, the smell, the crisp air. I find myself in awe over it. This week has been so beautiful and the weather is perfect fall weather. When I take the dogs outside I find myself just standing somewhat trance-like staring at the colors on the trees. It's like I can't get enough! I don't want to look away because I know soon they'll be gone and I just want to drink it all in while I can. This week in my Bible study I am reading about beauty and why it's around us. In the bible study are these words:
"Why did God create a world of such beauty? Was it primarily for His enjoyment or for ours? John Piper, in a sermon on The pleasure of God talks about the intricate beauty of the fish that live so deep in the ocean that, for thousands of years, man never knew of or saw, much less enjoyed, their beauty. God obviously created these particular fish for His own pleasure. Our love and enjoyment of beauty is part of God's image in us."

In Genesis, we read how God made every living creature on the earth. In Genesis 1:31 it says that God saw everything that He had made and indeed it was VERY good. He loved His creation. He enjoyed His creation. And I believe that because He made us in His image, that is why we enjoy creation. Don't you think that He loves it when we look around at what He has made and say to ourselves "it's very good!!"?

In Revelation it speaks of the new earth that is to come when Jesus returns and the description of it is unbelievable! I can't wait to see it. Listen to this describing the new Jerusalem: "her(the city) light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal....The construction of its wall was of jasper and the city was pure gold like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass!" Can you even imagine such a beautiful place?!!

From my Bible study again: "The dictionary defines beauty as 'the quality in anything that gives pleasure because it somehow begins to fill our deep longings. There is a mystery in beauty that defies logic or quantification. We don't always know why we find something beautiful, but we experience an inner stirring of pleasure that longs for more. What if all beauty is ultimately a reflection of God? We could say beauty is the visible symbol of the unseen glory of God."

"Ah, but we want so much more....we do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it." C.S. Lewis

And that is exactly how I feel when I'm at the mountains in the fall and I see all the beautiful tree tops filled with color. I want to step out into it and be enveloped by it. But I realize now, it's not the colors or the weather themselves that draw me in. It's that I'm looking at a part of God Himself. It is God that my heart truly desires. It is heaven and eternity with God. That state of COMPLETE rest and peace and beauty untainted by the sin of this world. To be with God forever, the one who created all this beauty. But for now, I will look at the world and see the beauty in His creation realizing that this is God's revelation of Himself here on this earth to all of us. I want to be a person who will take the time everyday and see Him around me, in the little things that bring joy inexpressible to my heart. And one day, I will get to see heaven and the King in all His glory. Sometimes I try to imagine what it will be like. Brian says that when we get there he thinks that we'll say, "I had no idea!". I think this is true. What beauty we shall see!