Merry Christmas!!

I know I haven't been posting much lately about our family.  It seems like I'm always running around...oh wait, this is December, one of the busiest months of the year.
Back on December 10th, we went out to eat at Subway and made cookies to remember Matt's birthday. (He would of been 32 this year.)  Some of the last memories I have of Matt are eating his subway sandwich.  Those kinda of memories just stick with you throughout the years.  B. enjoyed making her first Christmas cookies.  I'm sad to say I have no pictures, but trust me, there was quite a mess.  Tom did a good job controlling his need to clean up the mess until we were all done with our cookies.  :)

The weekend of December 11th-12th, I sang in our church's contata.  Everything went very well in spite of the nasty weather we were having.
This past weekend was a quick trip Friday night to have dinner with Tom's family and our my brother-in-law before he headed back across the ocean.  Saturday we left family and headed to the airport to pick up one of our missionaries that our church supports.  It was a pleasant ride home getting to know her better.
Now, here we are, the week of Christmas with much more traveling to come.  December sure flies, but it is a lot of fun!  We're excited to be able to spend so much time with our families celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior,  Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas!!!

God Gave Us So Much--Book Review

About a week ago, I was so excited to find another book review program for bloggers. It's called Blogging for Books, and they have quite an assortment to choose from. I just received my first book, God Gave Us So Much by Lisa Tawn Bergren in the mail today, and I was able to read through it tonight. I had seen this series of books in retail stores before, but I had not had a chance to read them. This particular book is a limited edition three book treasury. The three books included together are: God Gave Us the World, God Gave Us Love, and God Gave Us Heaven.

Each of these stories is about the life of a polar bear family of five--Papa, Mama, Little Cub and her two younger siblings. In God Gave Us the World, the family visits a bear exhibit, and Mama teaches Little Cub about God's great creation. In God Gave Us Love, Little Cub encounters a group of rambunctious otters who get her a little upset. Little Cub's Grandpa subtly reminds her of God's great love for her and the how she needs to love the otters. In God Gave Us Heaven, Little Cub asks Papa some very innocent, childlike questions about what heaven is like and what she will do there.

I enjoyed reading through these stories especially the first two. They provide great opportunities for discussions with your children. The last story, God Gave Us Heaven, was a little vague on how we actually get to heaven. I believe that is one thing that should never be vague especially in dealing with children. Also, I would probably wait on reading the last story until my two year old daughter was a little older. I think it is a little too early to be talking about death with her; although, you have to judge each child individually in matters like these. I absolutely loved the illustrations by Laura J. Bryant. She did a great job with the art for this book. The polar bears look adorable and cuddly, and the colors are delightful, bright and cheery.

I would recommend this collection of books as great bedtime reading; although you may have to read a little at a time as the stories are on the longer side. Be prepared to add what is not explicitly stated such as the Gospel. The opportunity is given, and it would be really easy to add.


** I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Living WIth Confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr. David Jeremiah

Do you feel like you can live with confidence in a world that is in spinning out of control?  In his book Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World, Dr. David Jeremiah gives ten ways in which we can live in confidence even though the world is falling all around us.  We can stay calm, compassionate, constructive, challenged, connected, centered, confident, consistent, committed and convinced all because of Christ in us.  In his book, he reminds Christians that the answers to life's difficulties is Christ.

I really enjoyed reading this book.  It was easy to read and comprehend.  I appreciated his use of Scripture and the fact that he upheld the Word of God as our sole source for confidence.  Our citizenship is not of this world, and it was a good reminder that my focus should not be on the things around me, but on God, His Word and that He is in ultimate control.  The author does a great job helping his readers to really think through and weigh the issues of life.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone struggling with focusing too much on all that is going on around them in the world and not enough on Christ who can supply all the strength they need.


**I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Another freebie from Shutterfly

In my previous post, I shared a current project that I had just done at the Shutterfly website.  Right now, you can get a free 25$ credit at shutterfly for posting a project on your blog.  Here is a link that provides step by step instructions for getting the free credit.  The credit doesn't expire until February 15th, but you have to post the project on your blog by January 31st.  Make sure to take advantage of this great freebie!

Christmas Holiday cards

In His Name Religious Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

B's Prayer Face

I had to post this cute little face.  Every time we pray before a meal, this is how B's face looks.  Her little eyebrows just make me smile.  She has just started wanting to pray by herself before meals too within the last 2 weeks.  Her prayer is usually, "Dear Jesus, thank you for the food, Amen."  Short and to the point.

October and November

Oh boy, I guess I haven't posted in a while.  Below are random pictures of events from October-November.

Leaf Jumping

 Fall is not complete with a big jump in the leaves!

 Pumpkin Painting and Carving

B. picked out her own special little pumpkin this year and mommy let her paint it.  

Then we carved the big pumpkin.  B. reached right in to get the 

seeds out and then mommy roasted them in the oven....yummy.

 The SCARY pumpkin!!!
B. kept running over to where the pumpkin was and saying,

"SCARY PUMPKIN!!!" and then would run the other way.  It was funny.  

Trick or Treating Halloween Night

 B. was an alligator this year for halloween.  We headed to our downtown area for trick or treating this year.  It was pretty crazy b/c of all the construction downtown, but she did get some candy.  All she really wanted was a sucker and we got that at our first stop.  We then headed to two different houses since they requested a special visit from the little alligator.  Then we headed out to eat.

I was so excited when Houseparty picked me to host a shutterfly event.  If you aren't familiar with houseparty, check out their website here.  Anyone can fill out applications to host various parties.  If selected, Houseparty sends you a box with free stuff in it to host your party.  Your only commitment is to have your party and then fill out a survey about the party afterward.  So easy and you get some pretty fabulous products.  My shutterfly party went well and we all had a great time working on our books, talking and eating some great food.

Shutterfly is the way to go!

I love Shutterfly and their products.  Their site is easy to use and they have many different options.  I was really impressed with the photo book I did on their site not too long ago as a gift for Tom.  It was a book with some of the photography we had done together.  It was a great way to give something so personal that would last a long time.   Christmas is upon us once again and gift ideas are flooding our minds.  Shutterfly has many unique products available for gift-giving during this Christmas season.  They have  Christmas ornaments, calendars, photo books and photo mugs to name a few.   Make sure to take a look and while you're there, check out these great Christmas cards.  This year's holiday card collection has many great looks to choose from.  They even have a good amount of religious Christmas cards which I really appreciated.  I liked these here and here.  You can get your Christmas cards done all with a few clicks and even have them mailed right from the site.  How convenient is that!  Shutterfly has done a great job making quality products and making their site user-friendly.

*Shutterfly is giving me 50 free photo cards for a blog post about their products.  You still have time to apply to do a product review on your own blog by clicking here.  Submissions will be accepted until December 10th!

Halloween Library Storytime

Here's my ferocious alligator!

We went to our weekly story time at our local library.  Our librarian reads several stories.  Then we have craft time and B. gets to play with balls or crawl through the tunnel.  So fun!  We look forward to heading the library and getting new books each week.   Gotta love the library!

Fun with Permanent Marker

I found these pictures on my camera and I guess I forgot to post them.  B. had a little fun with a permanent magic marker...sharpie to be exact.  She proudly showed me the places that she had colored too.  This seems to be quite the temptation for her lately.  She has already had to go without coloring for a week b/c of coloring on the floor and her doll house.  When I saw the marker all over my frig and her feeding table, I thought I'd be living with the marks until we were able to afford the frig we really want.  But  I hopped on the internet and googled about how to get them off.  I found a mom blog that was able to give me some suggestions as to how to get it off.  The item of choice?  Magic Eraser.  It truly is magic.   It got everything off of her feeding table and removed the black from the frig, but left a little yellow stain.  I was thankful that it wasn't noticeable anymore.   Oh, life with a two year old.

A Dream Realized

I am finally doing it!  For a long time, I have really wanted to write my own bible study.  I absolutely love to study!  After finally getting a weekly schedule together for myself, I have made time to write.  (I recently read this great book called 168 hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam.  It was great reading.  She had some wonderful ideas and really helps you to realize how much time you really do have if you're disciplined.)  My mom and I are starting a blog together to share the bible studies.  I'm pretty excited especially to work with my mom on this awesome project.  I'll be sharing the link as soon as things are up and running.

Brooke's Phrases lately

Just had to record these so I don't forget them.  She just loves the movie Cars.  She call Lightning McQueen---"Lightning the Queen" but her absolute favorite is Mater.

While Tom was outside working on her windows, B. was playing in her sandbox.  Every time Tom got up on the ladder, B. would run over and say, "Be careful, Tom!"  Wonder where she heard that one. :)

The other day Tom was looking for his wallet and b. wanted to help.  He knew it was up on the dresser, so he picked B. up and as she picked it up off of his dresser she said, "I saved the day!"

And then one morning while Tom was getting ready to leave for work, B. made sure he had his lunch and then said, "By Honey."

We went through the drive-thru at mcdonald's to get a smoothie.  When b. heard us order a smoothie, she exclaimed, "A SMOVIE!!!"

Her language skills are increasing everyday.  She's using more and more adjectives to describe her nouns.  Such fun!  And the things coming out of her mouth are quite hilarious at times...at other times not so funny.  So thankful for this little girl.

Fireman B. and Firemonkey George

On Thursday night we went with our friends, to the local fire department's open house.  We even got to ride in the fire truck.  That was a first for our family!  B. had a great time; although, you can tell that she's getting  a little tired in the pictures.

Exploring Our Town with Friends

Our friends were able to spend the weekend with us exploring our great city.  B. and Jillian are best buddies.  B. just adores Jillian, and they had so much fun together this past weekend.  We were able to head around town and see the ArtWalk that was going on and introduce our friends to some amazing local restaurants.  We had a great time staying up late and playing super mario brothers with 4 people....and yes, it got a little crazy with that many people playing at once.
It was so great to be able to catch up with them and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We're so grateful for good friends.

Click Here to view more photos of the day.

Thinking about Heaven

This past Sunday tears flowed from my eyes as I tried to sing through the song There is a Higher Throne by Kristyn Getty.  It made me think about Matt and what is must be like for him in heaven.  And then singing and thinking about the phrase of Christ wiping away all of our tears....so many tears to wipe away from my life here on this fallen planet.  No doubt fall is always a hard time for me.  The colder weather, leaves turning and the smell of fall always start me thinking about my brother.  October 8th is coming up soon...Friday to be exact.  Even though 11 years have past, the hurt is still the same.  I miss him terribly.  He was the best brother ever...and best friend.  I miss you!!

 

There is a Higher Throne

by Kristyn Getty

There is a higher throne
Than all this world has known,
Where faithful ones from ev'ry tongue
Will one day come.
Before the Son we'll stand,
Made faultless through the Lamb;
Believing hearts find promised grace—
Salvation comes.

Hear heaven's voices sing;
Their thund'rous anthem rings
Through em'rald courts and sapphire skies.
Their praises rise.
All glory, wisdom, pow'r,
Strength, thanks, and honor are
To God our King, who reigns on high
Forevermore.

And there we'll find our home,
Our life before the throne;
We'll honor Him in perfect song
Where we belong.
He'll wipe each tear-stained eye
As thirst and hunger die.
The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King;
We'll reign with Him.

Good Books for Kids

 I thought I would post about this book since I have mentioned it to a couple of my friends who are looking for quality books for their kids.  I have been reading Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt, and she has some good advice on how to pick great books for your kids as well as a book list divided by ages.  I know for me, we tend to read books that are too old for my daughter and end up missing out on the ones she should be enjoying right now.  I just recently checked this book out from my local library (through library loan) and would recommend it to anyone.  It is well written and easy to read.  I think that I'm definitely going to buy this one for my own library...it's a keeper.  So make sure to check this great resource out from your own library.  You won't be disappointed.

*This review is my own opinion.  I read the book of my own accord and wasn't compensated in anyway.

Playing at the Playground

Last week we made sure to get out of the house since the weather was awesome and in the 80's.  That's a rare occurrence in September where we live.  We had a great time together and got some fun pictures.

B. is getting bigger every day and is putting any where from 4-7 word sentences together.  She is amazing...although, I'm definitely biased. :)  Lately she's been saying phrases like:  "Are you going to play house with me? Are you coming? Follow me." (usually those sentences are all strung together until you give in and play house.)  "Here ya go mommy."  "I'm following your tracks." (Said while following behind me.)  She can count to 10 and loves to do school work...which is usually placing stickers in our workbooks. 
We are enjoying seeing her grow and learn.  And at times, even the terrible 2's can be fun!

Fingerpainting on a Rainy Day

Mike and Sara's Wedding

 

 The wedding was beautiful and they certainly had great weather.  Although, it was incredibly windy!  Congratulations to Mike and Sara!!!

Click here to see the rest of the photos from the day.