This morning in my devotion time I read in God's Word a passage that really made me think. Matthew 11:28 says "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.-NIV. I thought this was good timing to hear that because really for Christmas I wanted peace. Peace is something that is brought up all the time during the Christmas season. Yet, lots of people do not experience peace at all.

Whether you stole a candy bar when you were little, cheated on a test, lied to your boss,didn't pay bills on time causing bad credit, etc., it can ruin the feeling of peace. Some are haunted by the guilt of sin and weighed down by its consequences. I thought about it this morning because I met someone that has lost hope. Sometimes we are the ones to experience this loss of peace because someone else wronged us. I can go to the Father on my knees for wrong doings (sin) that I have committed. That's not an easy refuge for someone who doesn't understand why life has turned out so bad because of someone else. I don't really have an answer for that. No one does. But God calls us to him regardless. He is our ONLY hope. He gave us life and He is the only one to give us hope. Every time we fall into the pit of despair we need to reach for him even if we have never reached for him before. Solutions that seem to throw down a rope for us will only make it worse. We will try to climb out only to find that the rope was not tied down and will let us go. Therefore we fall deeper.

I watched as the rest of the world did when the miners were rescued. One by one they each got into the harness, securely strapped in, and pulled to safety. I imagine that God gives that to each of us. Sometimes He does that several times. There is no reason that only happens once. We don't sin just once. We sin over and over. When we call on His name he rescues us over and over. That is forgiveness. We are ultimately forgiven once and for all. Faith is what keeps us close to him. Aaron told me once, if you worry that you don't have enough faith, just that thought alone says you do. You wouldn't worry about it if you didn't care.

I encourage you if you are one feeling hopeless, to read Psalm 88. It is a picture of what despair looks and feels like. This is not a new feeling. People felt this way in biblical times too. I could type it out but not only would that make this post long:/ I want you to seek out His word on your own. Sometimes opening the Bible when you are falling apart is the beginning of healing. Then read Psalm 46. God is always there to help and rescue us. Let him.

I did get peace for Christmas. The reminder that Peace comes from my Father. He sent that peace in the form of a baby. Jesus our Lord was born and died on the cross to give us ultimate peace. I may have earthly peace every now and then but eternal peace comes from Him. My faith, also given to me by Him, in Him is my peace.

Christmas Part 4...!

Why so many Christmas visits? Well, growing up I constantly moved and my parents are divorced so I grew up with traveling for Christmas. That was just the way it was. Up until a few years ago we crammed it in within a day and a half. We finally came to our senses and insisted that we start at home and then spread out our visits over several days. What a blessing! We were able to spend time with each our families and that I will always cherish!

So, we went to my Dad's house to celebrate in the holidays. They showered us with all kinds of things. The kids just know the are spoiled rotten there:) They raise birds and the kids were super excited to play with each of them. Katie and Georgia immediately took off on their own for a make-over session. JD and Austen hit it off and played for hours. Derek and Alex have always been close and hung out all day. Aaron and I spent the day visiting with my Dad and Sheila. We talked for hours. A great dinner stuffed our bellies as usual!

Thanks for your hospitality Dad and Sheila! They truly go out of their way to make sure we are well cared for:)!

Love ya!

Christmas Part 3....

Seriously every Christmas celebration is unique and has a different location. As soon as we wrapped up at my mom's house we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We all caravanned over to there house. The gift exchange must happen there. They have the same tree every year decorated with pictures of every generation of children. Wayne and Brittney hand out the gifts, Brittany takes the orders for drinks to fill in cups that are labeled and saved every year for every get together. Cathy brings the pies. Ice cream is dished out. Vanilla and chocolate syrup is the favorite.

Bonus this time was a special relative visit- Crystal!!!! It was great to see her and to learn that she got in to a Phd. program and will be in England for her studies! We are so proud of her!!

Melissa announced her pregnancy. So we will be expecting to beautiful babies in the next year! Claudia is due in May and Melissa will be due sometime in August. We are eagerly waiting for her doctor appointment on January 4th!

Gifts were blessings as always. Jeremy and Adam were dead on with JD. Georgia was quite entertained with the art activities that she of course wanted to open immediately. Aaron and I got a really cool camping grill from Ryan. Camping is a big deal for us and it will be quite handy. Thanks guys.

After a full day, we packed up and headed home. We were all ready for bed. We still had more Christmas festivities planned for the next day:)

Love you guys!

Christmas Day Part 2

This year my mom finally had the kitchen she always wanted. For so many years she has desired and insisted to host the Christmas dinner. She loves the family to come over. This was truly a special sight to see. She was ready with plans of how each setting would be in place. We decided to hang out and do our Christmas exchange with she and Chuck in the morning. We arrived around 11:30ish. Immediately gifts were being exchanged. We all were showered with blessings. She faithfully made each of us new pj pants, gave us Fiesta Tx season passes. What a blessing. I learned alot about the things Chuck likes. He got a puzzle and a plaque of the 10 Commandments. Mom received a Scentsy candle warmer. That was put to use right away! Stockings were filled and emptied.

Soon as she began to get the turkey going. Derek and I got out Yatzee and the kids opened up their new toys to play with. I totally blew Derek away in Yatzee.

Soon it was time to do the challenge of the season! Gingerbread house decorating contest. Our family verses Melissa and Ian. Mom and Chuck were the judges. We both had different brands so our challenges were different. We had plenty of creativity but too much structural challenges. Melissa's was pre-made so all she had to decorate it. She totally owned us. But oh well, next year we will be back bigger and better! We agreed to clarify the rules as well as judging criteria. It is truly so much fun and a great way for the families to work together. Enjoy the pictures. Our goal was a tropical vacation for Santa. Hansel and Gretal were chillin in a pool and lawn chairs with Santa, however our gingerbread house was melting and falling apart. Melissa's house was neatly groomed with lots of curbside appeal and loaded with candy.

Dinner went wonderful. The food and fellowship was fun as always. Mom had a very well organized buffet ready to serve. Dishes were quickly done and left overs put away. We were all ready for the Part 3 of Christmas Day:)

Christmas Morning Part I

Well we woke up from our Christmas sleepover quite early. (Aaron had to work today so he had to be there by 8:45) We promptly decided that would have to be the last sleepover. I snore, unfortunately very loudly. Georgia and I coughed all night. Derek talks very loudly, some in words that you could understand but didn't make sense, some would be compared to speaking in tongues. Aaron arrived home late because he was in the late night Christmas eve service. So, he tried to fall asleep long after we had begun our noises. He couldn't take it so he went and slept on the couch.:(.

We began to open up the gifts under the tree and in our stockings! The excitement was intense to say the least. Our biggest gift as a family, that we have saved for is a ski trip in January! The gifts we opened this morning were small gifts that expressed our thoughtfulness of one another. I think JD's favorite was a Clone trooper helmet with a voice changer, Georgia's was her skinny jeans and new hot pink headphones. Derek loved his Marshall sweatshirt, pj pants and house slippers that he insisted on wearing them the whole day. Ya, we let him. Aaron's biggest gift is a therapeutic pillow. Mine was my painted kitchen that I can't stop staring at:). I loved the perfume aaron gets me every year. My Mary Kay consultant has my wish list and calls him to share my wish list and she takes care of it:)

We enjoyed our first ever Christmas morning completely by ourselves. It was very different and somewhat quiet. I cherished every moment of it!

Twas the Night Before Christmas....

We spent the day with Tim and Chris (aaron's parents). We had lunch together using my china! I have been dying to use that! After our bellies were full we enjoyed some games, naps, and lots of visiting. Next, we headed out to our candlelight service at church. It was so beautiful and really was a focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I gift to us by God. He was here in the flesh! - partly I needed to supervise the handling of the candles with my pyromaniac children....

Then it was time to get in pj's, drink hot coco, and sitting by the fire. Aaron read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". We quickly made our pallets in our room. A tradition we love is to have a sleepover all together in our room. Partly because when they were younger, the controlling Mrs. Claus that I am, wanted to be sure there was noooo peaking.

We stayed up late to prepare for the morning surprises. I love this night!!!!
Amy

Christmas Eve-Eve

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!! Christmas is here and it is time to get ready. Finish the shopping for gifts and food. Prepare the house for guests! Prepare our hearts for the worship of the King of Kings!!!

I have a special guest on my blog today. He is the mostly jolly, Christmas boy I know. He is truely happy about EVERYTHING in Christmas!


Tonight we ended the day by sitting by the fire I prepared (J.D.)and watched " How the Grinch Stole Christmas"! This was the best Christmas Eve Eve ever!!

Thank you JD! He looked completely happy and content sitting so proudly next to the fire he prepared! While JD, Derek and I went shopping, Aaron and Georgia spent the day baking. Every year he joyfully bakes the most delicious pies-completely homemade right down to the crust!- and his homemade spritz cookies( that could only be prepared by a cookie press that is 100 years old...)They were done and waiting for us to taste when we came in the door. This is the best!!

Now to wash my china, bake the turkey, prepare the food, clean up the house.....I could go on and on. Sorry, my holidays are not the same unless I put everything off untill the last minute. Just the way I am:)

Merry Christmas Eve Eve,

Amy and JD

Well, after several attempts to get the donated harness on Carly,we finally got it on her! She is usually very patient with all the outfits Georgia has put on her. She has done her hair and dressed her up.( I can't find her pictures of that.) The Mieslers so generously donated the harness and leash. We tried to put it on her. First of all, she is a long haired guinea pig so it was hard to figure out how exactly to do it without pulling her hair. She refused and bit them. We had finally given up. However, Ian came over and saved the day! He got it on her. She looked like she felt very humiliated. She refused to move. Derek tried to move her and she stayed put. It took about 20 minutes before she even considered taking a few steps. Our plan is to have her wear it with out the leash so she can get used to how it feels and then work slowly toward walking with her. She is patient most of the time. We will see...:)

Kitchen Make-Over!!

Today I finally got the Christmas wish I have been desiring for long time. My whining has come to an end and my bragging begins. For over 6 months I have planned what I wanted to do with the paint color. I had definitely decided I wanted to get rid of the green and go with a lighter color. My friend Kris has done a great job with her kitchen so I asked her opinion. She suggested some shade of yellow. I was skeptical at first. I mentioned her wild idea to Aaron thinking that he wouldn't agree, however, he loved it! So then the hunt for the right shade began. Kris and I went to Home Depot and stared at the many choices. You see, yellow is not just yellow. We picked three prospects. I painted the samples on my wall in an area I could see anytime we passed the kitchen to see which one we liked. We quickly selected just the right color. Then the motivation stopped...for several reasons. When would we have time? Should we paint over the wall paper or take it down? Taking down the wall paper sounded so hard. But, painting over the wall paper sounded expensive. It would take alot of paint and primer to cover up the dark green. I have whined to all who would listen and procrastinate. I even had several people offer to help. But finally, Aaron asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him right away. All I wanted was 3 things. Two of the gifts I want every year and he faithfully delivers. The third was just to get the kitchen painted. I purposefully marked off today to paint. We got up bright and early and went right to work. My mom left our house this morning skeptical of our decision to paint over the wall paper. As Aaron started in a corner he noticed a bubble in the wallpaper. He took the risk and pulled it off. To our wonderful surprise it came down in huge sheets!!! Problem solved! Down with the green and up with the yellow. I truly feel like this space was transformed! I can't help but stare at it with a goofy grin of excitement every time I see it. We do have a couple of final touches but I am so impressed and satisfied. Thank you Aaron!!!Thanks to the kids for there hard work and participation even in the clean up!

Precious in Poteet

Sunday was a busy day for us. We are always busy. We haven't been to Poteet in awhile to see our dear friends. We finally found a day that worked out for everyone. Aaron and Cliff were both off and we could all just hang out. We intended to see a live nativity walk through however that was exactly what everyone else in Poteet wanted to do. There was no way the kids were going to be able to wait a long time to walk through it so we plan to do a drive through next weekend. So we did what we love to do best....hang out and visit. While Aaron and Cliff discussed firefighter stuff and beer, Jenna and I shared recipes and she showed me all of her amazing crafts. She is so creative!!

I got pictures of the kids. I love being with them!!
I love snuggling with each of the kiddos. JD is quite good with babies. And believe it or not, Julia and Georgia are the same height!!