It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (in Reverse)

Melissa and I spent most of yesterday at the church. It was very tiring, but so fun! I love working with a "genius" (as my girls call Melissa...and she is) And, as proof of my post from yesterday, see the picture below, with her directing Michele, Evan and myself. Also, a huge "Thank You" to Barb who brought us lunch. That was a blessing.

Sitting in the middle of the shepherd's hillside

Isn't this the sweetest baby Jesus?
I keep singing, "Come, thou long expected Jesus...
born to set your people free."

It reminds me that we are not just doing this for fun. We have such an important message to share with unbelievers, that God sent Jesus for everyone. My prayer is that this message would come through loud and clear on Saturday and Sunday nights.

There will be no room in the inn .

Wow! This is Ricky and Luis covering the window and hanging the banner.
It was scary for us just to watch.

It will be a rollercoaster from now until Sunday. Pray that we keep our focus on God and not ourselves, on priorities not problems. And, may EVERYTHING we say and do glorify our Father in heaven.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

And so it begins...musical setup is officially underway. Greg Z. brought the "city" into the worship center. Wow! It looks so good. Of course, there was never any doubt. It's funny how just putting up that one bit of the set gets me excited about the program. It's been a crazy day of running around purchasing bits of stuff here and there, picking up the t-shirts (finally), buying lights, looking for angel halo stuff, etc. Tomorrow will be spent at the church creating the shepherds' hillside, finishing costumes, making sandals...well, actually Melissa will be doing all this and I will be her ever faithful sidekick, waiting to do her bidding. This basically means that I will be a gopher, and I'll probably be the one who goes to pick up lunch. She's the real talent and brains behind our friendship/organization.

Wish I'd thought to take my camera to church tonight to document the process. Well, there's always tomorrow. Or Friday. Or Saturday. Yep...gonna be livin' in the Lord's house all week.

It's A Long (Rainy) Way Home

Seems like we've been gone for a long time, but it's only been 3 1/2 days. I think our car clocked the trip at a little over 730 miles. Road weary, to say the least. We had a great time with our families, but were very glad to be home.

Thanks Nanny and Papa for a place to stay. Sorry it was
too rainy to start putting up your Christmas decorations.

As we were pulling out of the Holmes' driveway I said,
"It couldn't possibly rain all the way home, for six hours, could it?"
Uh, yeah, it can and did.

Hope you all enjoyed your holiday, as well. Now, on to Christmas!

Texas A&M 38, Texas 30

WHOOP!!! Yes, who can believe it? The Aggies actually pulled it off -- a win over the Longhorns. Jeff and Russell were at the game. He just came in so we haven't heard many details yet. I have to say that I was a 2%-er (ask an Aggie). I gave up my ticket to Russell and I actually said the Longhorns would win. Such a weak fan. I was seriously thankful to be in warm houses today instead of in a cold, windy football stadium. Brrrr....

And, finally, COACH FRAN RESIGNED!!!! Yea! Yippeeeeee! Hallelujah! About time! Even though I'm not the most ardent football fan, I never did like that guy. Just seemed like a snake oil salesman to me. And, I was right. Charging people for insider emails indeed. Good-bye and good riddance. And, Gig'Em Aggies!

Tour of Texas - Stops Three and Four

BUNA -- Stops Three and Four are in one town. Actually, we have several people to see when we hit the country: Jeff's parents, my dad, my sister and kids, and my brother and his family. We slept in a little this morning. Nanny made biscuits and bacon for breakfast. Yes, I've added about 3 pounds this week, just due to biscuits. It was soooo cold this morning -- in the 40's, and it's a damp cold. (That sounds like saying, "but it's a dry heat.") Jeff left with our friend, Russell, to go to College Station for the A&M v. Texas game. (More on that later.) I took Rebecca to my dad's to "prospect" for treasures. She has a metal detector and my dad asked her to bring it and look for "stuff" in his yard.

Ready for prospecting

Digging deep on this one

Remains of Hurricane Rita still evident

My dad always has a roaring fire

Abigail and Katherine stayed behind at Nanny's

to paint Christmas figurines

Love these signs of East Texas in the fall: pink pods on the rain trees, a handful of acorns, my dad's stash of wood because he thinks he might run out before the next blizzard (to be fair, most of this wood is probably chopped up trees that were knocked over during the hurricane)

We had a nice, relaxing day. Didn't shop at all, except to run to Dollar General for Benadryl. My sister and I took our kids to Silsbee to see "Enchanted." What a deal -- tickets were $3.oo for adults and $1.50 for kids. Ate more fast food, yeah...just add a couple more pounds to the New Year's Resolutions. Heavy sigh...

We'll head north in the morning. There are supposed to be heavy rainstorms headed this way, so I hope we can be ahead of them. Don't like driving/riding in the rain. Makes for a really long way home.

Tour of Texas - Stop Two

WALLER -- For Thanksgiving Day lunch, we traveled to Waller, Texas (3o min. from Houston) to my cousin's ranch, Five Horses. Most of my family on my mother's side was in attendance -- 28 people in all. We had a delicious lunch, with way too much food (as always). When you're at Shannon's though, the main thing is the HORSES. So, we spent much of our time down at the barn.

my wonderful 92 year old grandpa

lunch by my mother

After lunch, we braved the cold winds and headed to the barn to see Shannon's new baby, Promise, only 5 months old. The foal was born prematurely and right after she was born, her mother stepped on and broke her leg. She's been spoiled in the barn extensively, and we were excited to be part of the day where she came out of the barn and walked around for the first time. She was so precious and would lay her head in the girls' laps when they sat down beside her. And, so soft!

A champagne horse, Tiramisu

Here's baby Promise, walking around outside for the first time.

One of her miniature horses, Charmer -- so fat! Rebecca helped Shannon put blankets on all the horses who didn't have shelter. Rebecca would have stayed if we would have let her.


Hay! What are you girls doing?
That hay smelled so good and sweet.


Abigail and the baby - what fun


Freedom, a beautiful thoroughbred racer that Shannon was given to work with. Shannon said she calls it "Free-dumb" because there is really no such thing as a free horse.

After dragging Rebecca and Abigail to the car kicking and screaming around 5:30, (kidding) we headed for Buna, about 2 1/2 hours away.

Tour of Texas - Stop One

COLLEGE STATION -- First stop on our annual "Thanksgiving Tour of Texas" was my mother's house. We left Fort Worth around 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, trying to avoid the I-35 parking lot. The traffic was actually not very bad. We stopped in Alvarado (whoo-hoo!) and ate at Whataburger. We arrived at mother's house around 9:30. Her house smelled wonderful. She had been baking pies. I brought in the ingredients for my casserole and put it together to bake on Thursday morning. We stayed up till around 12:30, drinking tea and chatting. I looked at the beginning of her Israel scrapbook. I wanted to scrapbook so bad!

Jeff promised a 7:00 a.m. wakeup call so we could all get up and walk. Yeah, that happened. Rebecca slept in until 9:00, the last to get up. Mother made a quick batch of biscuits, as we needed the oven for all the baking before we left for lunch at my cousin Shannon's house.

Mother's house always has great food and comfy accommodations.

Mother has two new babies: Foxy and Sam. They are so cute! Rebecca had a great time playing with them. Unfortunately, Abigail and Katherine are allergic to them. We had to make a quick getaway when Abigail's eyes started burning and breaking out with hives.

Always a fresh flower by the bed in our room. A nice, special touch. Buddy thinks Mother should open a B&B. Two words, Buddy: NOT HAPPENIN'.

More tomorrow. Stop Two - Five Horses Ranch in Waller.

The Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving

Yep, that's me. I'm the crabbiest person I know the week of Thanksgiving. For some unknown reason, I hate to travel the week of this holiday. (And we ALWAYS travel) I could probably list several factors that contribute, but I wouldn't want someone to get their feelings hurt. Mostly, I would rather stay home and relax, I think. This year's stress has been compounded by the fact that next week is the musical, and I don't feel that I, or any of the 64 little people involved, am ready. Add that to the fact that I am leaving town for 3 days, and well, you know...the whole thing will fall apart if I'm not here to worry about it.

Thanks to Amy and Paige, I am reminded to be thankful in ALL situations and circumstances. I hate to copy their idea with a "thankful list", but it really blessed me just to read theirs and, I don't think they will mind.

So, assuming that God, family, friends, etc. are the most obvious important things to me...in no particular order, here is the grinch's little thankful list:

* hot tea, especially English Breakfast (with cream)
* my ratty, blue plaid pajamas I've had forever
* Sonic ice
* scrapbooking
* my pink squishie pillow
* the color purple
* a crackling fire
* new books
* 50% off at Hobby Lobby
* letters in the mail
* honeysuckle
* scones with cream and jam
* quilts
* fluffy clouds
* JAG (I need Season 3 on DVD if you haven't bought my Christmas yet.)
* cheap jewelry
* Road Rage Remedy on WRR 101.1
* hydrangeas
* fresh corn on the cob
* music

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

The Voices of Children

I am always amazed and blessed when I hear kids sing. Well, to be correct, kids singing on pitch and with harmony. On Sunday evening in children's choir, we "attempted" to sing our way through the entire Christmas musical, noting that (please...no) we only have 18 days until our first performance, uh, I mean, presentation...sorry Wayne.

Brittany and Evan (aka Mary and Joseph) sing the most beautiful song entitled "You Chose Me." The words alone are incredible, but when you hear two 11 year old voices blending in harmony it is absolutely stunning. I had chill bumps on my arms and I felt the strangest urge to cry. I've been singing those words over and over in my head this week, and it reminded me of God's plan for all of us. What a wonder and a gift music is to our faith, especially "out of the mouths of babes." Part of that song says,

"Waking and working, every day,
Your perfect plan before me.
I wanna serve You all the way,
trusting what I can't see.
I could never have imagined all You've planned.
And I can't forget the day it all began.

Since You came and called my name,
I can only marvel at the mystery.
Magnify the Lord on High.
I'll praise Your name eternally,
'cause You looked down and You chose me."

Wow.

Just a Bump in the Road

Have you ever been going along your merry way, thinking life is okay, and then "WHAM!", you hit a bump in the road? That happened to me this week. (via email) It was one of those situations where I sat back in my chair, stunned that ONCE AGAIN, a person was questioning the validity of something that I feel very passionate about. Not to be cryptic here, but no purpose would be served by sharing this person's name. I went through several stages: anger (blood pressure a little high), more anger (the more I thought about it), denial, and then, strangely enough, grief. I have been alternately angry and then sad because I know there is nothing I can say that will change the situation. It is what it is. Some people I know would say, "What is God trying to teach me in this situation?" I'm not there yet. I'm still largely hurt, a little bit angry and a whole lot sad. Probably not very productive, but, I will press on, knowing that I am doing what God has called me to do. (at least for now)

"...one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13-14

And the Award for Craziest Child Goes To...

ABIGAIL HOLMES...for swimming in November in approximately 50 degree water. She just couldn't stand it. The outside temp warmed up a bit today and she did get sweaty helping her dad get leaves out. Her teeth were chattering only slightly, compared to when she jumped in the pool in April. Of course, the water temp was in the 40's then! Crazy girl.

I didn't touch the water, but Jeff's feet were like ice cubes!
He's crazy, too.

Would You Take Candy from This Little Girl?

This year's Halloween will forever be called "The Halloween of Sickness." Katherine didn't get to be a taco. Abigail didn't get to dress up like a Christmas tree. Rebecca didn't get to put on a costume that she didn't want to put on in the first place. We have always gone to Fall Festival at church, so I had to make a last minute run to the store for candy. Rebecca, the only semi-well child, put out candles and a CD player with spooky music on the porch. And waited...

Thankfully we had about three groups of kids come by. Rebecca was disappointed there weren't more. I'm disappointed that we have this huge bowl of candy left over. Thankfully I didn't buy any candy that I like, so no temptation there. Abigail had a good suggestion at the end of the evening. "Let's just pretend all this leftover candy came from trick-or-treating at church!" "Not the same," said Rebecca.

Pool - Now in Recovery

Fill 'er up! I thought the pool would have to "sit" for awhile before we added water. Not true. Water had to be added immediately. (So much for my theory to let it rain -- lots and soon.) The bottom of the pool is so smooth and white. No more stains or cracks! The little black spots in the pic below are leaves -- already! We put the hose in yesterday afternoon and just turned it off this morning, after letting it run all night. **SIDE NOTE** WE WILL BE ACCEPTING DONATIONS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER TO PAY FOR OUR WATER BILL.

Looks inviting. Too bad it's in the 50's this morning.

I'm on my way to scrub the pool now. Yippee. It has to be brushed twice a day for a couple weeks. Don't know why, didn't listen real well earlier. And, guess who's the only person in the house well enough to do it? Yep. Me. Wonder how many calories are burned brushing a pool?