Ready!

Hair in bun...check!

 "Rev" coffee on board...check!

Dark Chocolate...the breakfast of champions! Check!

Ready to Wrap! Those! Gifts!

Let's do this thing!

Wait...do we have any tape?

Where are the scissors?

I forgot to buy tags.

Sigh.

Stolen Briefcase Found

Wow!  God has been gracious to us.  Your prayers (see previous post) were answered quickly!  Tim just received a call from the owner of a gas station about a mile away.  His briefcase, MINUS the computer sadly, was found dumped there!  We are so thankful that all our personal papers are (supposedly) still there.  THANK for the prayers.  It's barely nine in the morning, and I'm ready for a nap (with the doors locked! with my purse under my pillow! with my dog....oh never mind.)


Merry Christmas.

Fierce Defender Fails

Here is our fierce and ferocious watchdog.

She will bite  your hand right off! (if you're holding bacon....)

She slept soundly last night while someone broke into our garage, into my husband's car and stole his work briefcase.

They left my purse in the suburban undisturbed.

Clearly a professional hit job.

Please pray that the briefcase with his computer and a lot of personal papers would be returned.

(For those who need more details,

I went out to the garage this morning at 6:45 to 

take out recycling and noticed that the garage

door was open and that my husband's

back car door was ajar.

I knew we were in trouble.

Tim was the last one home last night and always closes the garage door, so we have no explanation.)

We are thankful that nothing else is missing.

As for Molly...she is well rested and without concern this morning

except for being in trouble for eating the garbage while

we were having a heart attack about the briefcase.

Guess Who! Ho Ho HO

Guess who came to our house tonight to make an early delivery?

Surprise!

 At first she didn't know what to think!

Santa....right there in her living room!

 Of course the wheels were turning!

It's not Papa......

 Santa was kind and thoughtful and asked her many  questions...

 She didn't always know the answer..

Meanwhile, Zach was standing behind Santa,

waving his arms and mouthing

"WHO IS IT?"

"It's SANTA!" I kept saying.

Pretty soon he ran and got Andrew.

And Timmy got home from basketball

in the "Nick" of time!

 Zach is still not sure.

Andrew knows.

Katie knows.

Timmy...who knows....

 The whole family.

Thanks Santa!
(Look at Zach's face...he's still thinking...)

 "Can you believe it!?"

They watched out the BACK to try to see

the sled but...

Wait!  What's that glowing light in the window?

My flash....or.....

Moms of the World...This One's for YOU

This is for all the harried, stressed, TIRED moms (or dads) out there
this busy Monday before Christmas....take my advice.  
Stop what you are doing (well, after you are done reading this of course....)


Stop what you are going to do NEXT before you do it, 
before  you start in on that laundry mountain,
before you begin the frenzied list of errands that is clearly going to stretch
into next Thursday, 
before you lose your mind in this Christ-mas season.


Do this.


Go somewhere private.  This CAN be done in front of others,
but if it's your first time or you're really stressed or 
not particularly "out there," it's best to be alone.


Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.


Raise your hands up to the heavens.  You can do the straight up 
style or the menorrah style, but get those hands up.

Focus on the God who loves you, 

who gives us this season to remember His Gift of His Son

who came to bring us forgiveness and mercy through 
His birth in a manger and His death on a cross.

Then, feel your own emptiness and tiredness and sing this
simple children's song.


(Although not a traditional Christmas song, it is
a traditional "week before Christmas song" for me!)


Give me oil in my lamp; keep me burning.
Give me oil in my lamp I pray. (Hallelulia)
Give me oil in my lamp; keep me burning.
Keep me burning 'til the break of day.
(now praise:)
Sing Hosanna, Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna to the King of Kings
Sing Hosanna, Sing Hosanna
Sing Hosanna to the King.


Repeat as needed.  Your lamp and the whole holiday are empty without Him.  Admit that and everything falls into perspective. 


I just did this, and it has made all the difference.

A New Niece!

The adoption of a new cousin has happened!  The kids are so excited to meet her in a few days, but if you want to see how things are progressing in China, here's the link:

Walking in the Truth


We rejoice!  Welcome Elsa and Thank you Father.

Dry Skin or Cat Litter

Thoughts to myself:

My face is so dry.  I've been using lotion but what are all these crinkles and flakes?  It's never been THIS dry before.  Is the house dry?  Wait!  Did I ever turn on the humidifier this Fall in the basement?  No!  I'm sure I didn't...I just turned the furnace on upstairs and I never went down.  Well!  THAT explains the crepe paper skin on my face! It's not that I'm old.  Whew!  So....I suppose I should go down to the furnace room and turn that humidifier on....No!  I can't!  If I go to the furnace room, I'll walk by the cat litter box, and if I walk by the cat litter box, I will most surely SEE that the cat litter box is full to overflowing. Then I will be morally obliged to change it and it's SO DISGUSTING!  THINK.  Is there any way I can get by it without NOTICING???...no...I have to step over it to get to the humidifier switch.  Ya know, maybe I could just live with the crypt-keeper skin.   Yes!  I could buy a hydrating mask or something!  But then I'd break out; I know I'd break out.  (Sigh) Dry skin....or cat litter....dry skin....cat litter.  Maybe I'll have a cup of coffee and chocolate and think about it awhile.

Honestly,

Suzanne

Getting Worse

It's getting worse.  Lily ab-so-lutely REFUSED to go out the door this morning with gloves that didn't match.  Now mind you....I'm not talking about one glove on one hand not matching the glove on the other hand....I'm talking about the matching pair of gloves being BLACK and NOT matching her PINK hat, scarf, coat, snow pants and boots.  I decided to be tough.  "Lily, you are JUST going to have to wear the black gloves today...we'll find some pink ones later."  The bus was coming in one minute.  "NOOOooooooooo Mom!  Wait...I have another pair somewhere!"  At this point she dumped out her backpack and sure enough there was a pair of little pink stretchy gloves....not very warm BUT the requisite color.  After checking to make sure I wasn't secretly being filmed by "Toddlers and Tiaras," I caved in and let her wear the lightweight pink ones....it's 10 degrees out...but she knows how to stick her hands in her pockets...


Dear World,  is there a desensitizing therapy for this?  Should I force her to wear unmatching clothes?  Would she survive?

Let's Pretend

Let's pretend, for a post or two...

that it is early November 

and I, along with every other mother,

am sharing my recently taken photos 

of my adorable children.

Work with me.

I've had a busy Fall.

Katie and I bummed around Savers (consignment shop) 

for an hour with no inspiration and a $20 budget.

Finally when we were about to give up...

we found the AQUA BLUE WIG.

Aqua is "so her color!"

Lily also honed in on a wig.

She passed up the fairy costumes and queen costumes for this,

a non-specific Indian girl.

"Do NOT call me Pocahontas!"

The rest of the stuff we had...

And I must say...she looked pretty authentic...

except for the pink inflatable guitar...

Even rock stars need sustenance....

....so she fueled up for the big evening of...

wait...isn't 15 too old to go around and get candy?

YES!....unlessssss.......

You have a cute adorable little sister who is too young to go around the neighborhood alone....

and your mother hates the cold....

CUE LILY!

"Oh YEAH...."

"Works for me, MOM!  Let's go Katie!"

"Love ya Zach!  Maybe next time!"

And the sorting begins....

Gloves are OFF...this is serious.

Oh by the way...Timmy was around too.

But he didn't hang around much.  

I'm laughing because in real life you can tell that the flesh material across his torso makes a pirate FACE...

but in the photographs it looks....

not quite like a face......

yeah.

I don't know Timmy.

But it did the job.

Then he came back, stripped off the questionable costume,

threw on a stockingcap,

and went back AGAIN!

Before you judge me...I give away a LOT of candy.

I figure it all comes out even...

PLUS...

we needed enough to share...

with those truly too big to get it for themselves.

(Look!  I never noticed that they have the same chins!)

OK...end of let's pretend.

Thank you for working with me.

Back to December 8.

Sigh.