a Two Year Old: Toddler or Terror???

This 2-yr-old is one tough cookie! You can tell
that he is the youngest of 3 boys and will do
anything to survive! He makes his brothers (and
parents) yell and sometimes want to cry. He won't
take NO for an answer, but he'll always give it for
an answer! He's as stubborn as they come! But, with
that being said, he can also be so darn funny!

We call Luke "Lukey". One of the things that cracks
us up is when he talks about himself in the third person.
Here are some of the things he has said:

"That's Lukey's"

"Lukey's right here"

"Lukey not go outside"

When he does something he knows is wrong:

"Lukey did it"

"Look what Lukey did"

And when I told him to stop going in my
drawer, he said,

"Lukey's going in your drawer"

With all the chaos he can bring, he brings
smiles too! How can you get mad when he tells
on himself? I have my hands full!!!

Bringing in the New Year: 2010

Read this verse slowly:

Hosea 10:12: "Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground,
For [it is] time to seek the LORD, Till He comes
and rains righteousness on you."

We will reap what we sow- the Bible tells us
so. If we sow RIGHTEOUSNESS, then we will reap
in MERCY. We all need God's mercy, and here we
see that it comes when we live the way God calls
us to live.

The next part of the verse says to break up your
FALLOW GROUND. What does that mean? I found
this info below in Easton's Bible Dictionary:

Fallow-Ground:

The expression, "Break up your fallow ground"
(Hsa 10:12; Jer 4:3) means, "Do not sow your seed
among thorns", i.e., break off all your evil habits;
clear your hearts of weeds, in order that they may
be prepared for the seed of righteousness. Land was
allowed to lie fallow that it might become more
fruitful; but when in this condition, it soon became
overgrown with thorns and weeds. The cultivator of
the soil was careful to "break up" his fallow ground,
i.e., to clear the field of weeds, before sowing
seed in it. So says the prophet, "Break off your evil
ways, repent of your sins, cease to do evil, and then
the good seed of the word will have room to grow and
bear fruit."

Wow, that makes it much more clear to me- we need to
come before God and ask Him to reveal ANY and ALL
areas of our lives that are not righteous in His eyes
so we can have room to grow.

"For [it is] time to seek the LORD, Till He comes
and rains righteousness on you".

This is the last part, but the most important! This
is our goal, that the Righteousness of God would RAIN
down on us because we answered His call to seek Him!
There is no greater feeling than experiencing the
power of God in your life! Let's clean out the cobwebs
and start 2010 with a fresh filling and overflowing
of righteousness in our lives!

Happy Birthday Jesus

What Birthday is complete without a Birthday cake???


This is the one birthday cake that the boys get to
decorate! Boy did they love doing it!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas! We are so blessed
to spend this day with our family. I think about the
men and women who are away at Christmas fighting for
our freedom. They are the true heroes in our country.
I am so grateful for them and pray for their safety
and for comfort for their loved ones. I feel so blessed
for all that I have! Like my neice, Taylor, told me:
"Santa left me a note because I wrote one to him. I
asked him to leave a lot of presents. He said he
left a couple presents but the best present of all is
Jesus." So precious and so right on.

Merry Christmas

Reasons I love Christmas

It's a Birthday celebration! We celebrate the
birth of Jesus Christ!

We read about the details when Jesus was born
in Luke 2, among other verses

Lots of family time!

Time with friends

Christmas caroling

Christmas lights make everything so bright!

It is a time of year to give! (blankets for those in need)

Hot chocolate on cold nights and every morning!

We make lots of cookies and eat way too many too!

Advent chains: The Countdown to Christmas!

Sitting by the fireplace is a regular activity

We decorate the tree a little different each year

Red is our color this year

Stockings hang by the chimney with care!

Fun decorations


I pray you enjoy Christmas as much as we do!

Christmas Lights

My family at the lights

We went to see the lights last week in Alta Loma, CA.
The houses are amazing and so many people come to
see the lights. We went really early and walked
around the neighborhood with some friends. Some
of the people were selling hot chocolate, churros
(they were sooo good!), popcorn, cotton candy,
candy bars and even tamales!

Group of girls who took our kids

My neice, Taylor (right), with her best friend, Taylor

So. Cal Santa- everyone had to pose with him!

Lots of lights

Jake with Gabriel and Jacob (and Jacob's puppy)


These people go "ALL OUT" with an airplane in
their yard!

Come with Haste!

Luke 2 in the Bible gives us the story of Jesus'
birth. There were shepherds out in the fields
and an angel spoke to them and said (v.10-11),
"Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy which will be to ALL people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of
David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord".

Jesus was sent for ALL people- to forgive
everyone of their sins if they will just come
to Him.

After the angel spoke, there was a heavenly
host singing and praising God! Then the
angels were gone. What would you have done
if you had just seen this? Do you ever think
about that? Would you think you just had a
dream? Would you be afraid to talk about it
because others might call you crazy? Or would
you do what the shepherds did and "hurry up" and
go find this Jesus that the angel was talking
about?

They talked and decided they should travel and
see what God had shown them. Verse 16 says that
"they came with haste (swiftness of motion, speed,
urgent need of quick action) and found Mary and
Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger."

When God makes something known to us, we need to
come with haste to Him by reading the Bible or
praying! He will make Himself known just like He
did to those shepherds.

Verse 17: "Now when they had seen [Him], they made
widely known the saying which was told them
concerning this Child."

They saw Jesus and even though He was just a baby
boy in a dirty manger, they knew that they had just
seen the Messiah sent to save the world. They couldn't
keep it a secret! They made it widely known. When
we experience the greatness of God and know Jesus in
a deeply personal way, we will not be able to keep
quiet about it! We will make it widely known too!

Verse 18: "And all those who heard [it] marveled
at those things which were told them by the shepherds."

As you share your heart and they see that you really
have been changed by the Lord and Savior of the world,
they will marvel at what you tell them, just like
those who heard from the shepherds. Remember- it
all started by "hearing", then "seeing and believeing"
then "sharing"! We can live out the Christmas story
this same way!

Christmas Giving: The Gifts that Keep On Giving!

I listen to a Christian Radio Station (I know, what
a surprise to those who know me) and I kept hearing
about Water Buffalo as a gift. Gospel for Asia is an amazing ministry and K.P. Yohannan is the
Founder and President. K.P. spoke at our church
last year and his heart to help others around the
world who have so very little is unbelievable. If
you want to make a huge impact for others and just
aren't sure where to give, you should check out
Gospel for Asia. We give to ministries here in
the U.S. also, but this Christmas we went on as
a family and I let the boys choose what animals
we were going to give as gifts!

They chose:

Chickens

Rabbits

and Pigs

**We recycle bottles and cans and have been trying
to figure out a good way to use the money. We decided
we are going to save up and buy a water buffalo once
we reach that amount (we're about half way there right
now).

Christmas Caroling

I went Christmas caroling with our church because
my sister-in-law invited me to go. I took Jake and
Luke with me. I didn't know how it would be and
much to my surprise, I had a great time! We had
a group of about 40 people and went to a local
neighborhood. There were 500 people who showed up
at our church to go out caroling. They must have
known how fun it was! I can't sing, but I had a
great time anyway and hopefully my voice was covered
by the others around me.

Leaving our house with our hot chocolate in hand!

The group

Our energetic leader

This family was so excited to have us come by

Keith (my brother) and Jessica

This little girl brought us out some cookies

Friends Tanya and Freddie

Taryn and Spencer

Luke breaking all the rules by walking on the
lawn so he could touch the blow-up figures

He was so happy to see these guys!


After we finished, we went back to the church for
some cookies and coffee or hot chocolate. I'm
definitely going again next year and bringing some
more friends with me!

Co-op Christmas Party

For our 2009 Homeschooling Co-op Christmas Party. . .

We made Crafts:

We made little Christmas trees
(thanks for the idea Kristi!)

We decorated Cookies

And ate them!

The boys played video games (of course!)

We made blankets for the homeless

And were proud of our hard work! It was a
team effort (moms included)

& We got a jumper so the kids could "jump" off some
of the sugar they were eating!


Along with making waffles, eggs, bacon and
sausage and much more for breakfast. The
kids had a great time and I'm pretty sure
the moms did too. We spent a lot of time
laughing. I'm thankful for this group.