Our Crazy Busy Wonderful Lives!

WARNING!!! This post is filled with many pictures and lots of ooey gooey sweetness!

It has been so very long since I took the time to really blog! I'm going to give you the "reader's digest version" of what we have been up to the last few months! (You know that means the condensed version!) I really hope to do better at sharing what's on my heart. My little blessings keep me so busy it's hard to find the time to do it. Lately I've struggled with feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. However, with God's help I am more than a conqueror and these pictures remind me of that!

 At the beginning of December FBC hosted Carols by Candlelight which was organized by my sweet hubby. It's a great community outreach event that spreads the gospel message. Free meal, great music, great fellowship and presentation of the gospel. It just doesn't get much better than that. Here is a picture of the ensemble that sang this year. It was so much fun. We memorized all of the music. We were SO proud of ourselves!

Raymond and I were celebrity judges at Saint's Alive annual Christmas Karaoke. We had so much fun! Can you guess who Raymond was dressed up as? He was actually pretty good at it. Scary!

We were also invited to have Christmas dinner with Governor Jindal and his wife. They were very sweet and we really enjoyed talking with them. We got to visit for a long time because no one else realized they were in the room!!!! It was such a blessing to see the nativity  proudly on display. I know you can't see it but it's behind us in this picture.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas as a family. This was Merry's first Christmas. She seemed to really enjoy everything about it and even tried to open her presents. We always read the Christmas story together and pray before opening our gifts. This year Jake's prayer melted my heart. He prayed that God would help us to remember Christmas was about Him and not presents. WOW! My children are not perfect but it was such a blessing to hear that some of what I am doing with them is getting through.

We also really enjoyed spending time with our parents at Christmas. We are so thankful to be a part of a church that allows us and even encourages us to visit our families. 

While visiting Raymond's Paw Paw aka Big Paw Paw we always like to pick satsumas. We discovered that Merry Ellen is a satsuma eating machine. Baby girl LOVES satsumas. 

We were also blessed to be able to celebrate my hunky hubby's birthday with his parents. I'm so thankful to have a husband that seeks to honor God in every area of his life, even when it's not easy.

Our family has been very involved with Upward Basketball at our church. I'm so thankful to our children's minister, Abe Hodges, for bringing it to Rayville. It is a great Godly driven program that not only teaches our kids how to play basketball but also teaches them God's word and great sportsmanship.  There's also cheerleading for girls who don't want to play basketball. Raymond is coaching Jared's team. The boys have both done well and scored a few buckets. Jake scored 8 points during his last game. :)  Even Merry Ellen has the Upward team spirit.

Merry's own personal babysitter while at the games. :)

Just a few more pictures and then I'll be finished... I promise!

This is a  picture of Jake's first piano lesson.  He has begged me to teach him. Much to my surprise and delight he LOVES it. I can't keep him away from the piano.

And finally just a few more pictures of Miss Priss. Love my baby girl! So blessed that God allows me to be the mother of these kiddos.

Happy 10 Months!

Happy 10 months to the sweetest baby girl!!!!





- Posted using BlogPress

Basketball

We are ready for our first upward game!








- Posted using BlogPress

LSU Room

My sweet in-laws painted the boys room this weekend. Geaux Tigers!!!! It's not finished yet but it's getting there!






- Posted using BlogPress

Raymond's Birthday

Our sweet family celebrating Raymond's birthday.




- Posted using BlogPress

Painting with Paw Paw

For their Christmas present Jake and Jared asked Paw Paw to paint their room. Geaux Tigers. :)







- Posted using BlogPress

Follow me here!!!

Just in case I decide to give up Facebook for a bit follow my blog so you can keep up with our crazy, wonderful, blessed life!!!




- Posted using BlogPress

Our Advent Adventure

Immanuel. God WITH us. What an AMAZING thought! If God is with us then why don't we behave like it? During this time of year we should be focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. We should not get "wrapped" up in the commercial aspects of Christmas. However, every time I log on to facebook I see yet another post of what someone's "elf" is doing and many times the elf has done something naughty. (He or she has done something for which we would punish our children.) I'm not against doing elf on a shelf or Santa (although we do neither) but it breaks my heart that the topic of conversation is elves and Santa not JESUS at this time of year. God placed this conviction on my heart a long time ago but this year He gave me a way to put feet to my faith. Thanks to the idea of Abe Hodges, our awesome youth minister, I found an advent devotional to read as a family every night with my children. The devotional I chose for our family is great because it approaches the topic in a way that children understand and it includes fun activities to do to reinforce the topics.

We have absolutely loved our advent family devotional time each night. I'm going to share a few of the things we have done so far. I'll continue to make posts of our Advent Adventures.

We have our own advent wreath. It's VERY simple, but it gets the point across. We will light a different candle each week until Christmas arrives. Our first candle represents HOPE. For more on advent wreaths click here. Also in that picture you see our "Promise Pocket." There are  promises from God in the bag. Each night we choose one and read it. We talk about how God keeps his promises. We initially talked about the promise God made (and kept) to send  the Messiah.

This is our "Names of Jesus" wreath. As we are reading our devotional each time we come across a different name for Jesus we write it on an ornament and place it on the wreath. So far we have two names on our wreath, King and Immanuel.

This is our advent kiss calendar. Very simple to make. Each day the boys cut open a section that contains a Hershey kiss for each of them and a scripture. They sometimes get a real kiss too. :) I read the scripture while they enjoy their candy. It's really neat because many of the scriptures I used this year Jake has already learned in AWANA.

Jake and Merry Ellen getting ready to listen to our devotional for the night. (Jared didn't want to be photographed.)

Jake hanging a name of Jesus on our wreath.  I bought a real wreath and we talked about it's evergreen branches and how Jesus is alive and ever present. 

May the REAL meaning of Christmas be ever present in your hearts and minds.

---Ellen