A Haunted Christmas

Once we returned home I had a few short days before our family arrived.

This year, my son and daughter in love drove over night and arrived in time to wake Kyra and celebrate Christmas morning with the entire family.

What a time we had!

The first look!

This was this little fellows first Christmas and first visit to Georgia

Unpacking stockings: a favorite part of Christmas morning

Time to open gifts

The oldest grand is a heavy duty Star Wars fan

Her favorite gift was a Light Saber of course!

For Mister K, it was all about the cars

Imagine, Santa even got Kylie's gifts to Georgia, her favorite?

A breakfast meal from McDonald's' - that Santa!

The entire family stayed with us for almost a week. We played lots of games, put puzzles together to into the wee hours.

My arms and heart overflowed!

Dave and Beth were gifted with a cruise vacation leaving right after New Years.

After much twisting of arms (jk) we agreed to babysit.
This gave us an opportunity to spend a bunch of quality time with all the four grands.

The three older kids found lots to keep them busy

they usually do.

Did I mention Star Wars was big this year?

These two never get bored especially with each other

and this baby doll?

He reminded mawmaw of his daddy, sweet as sugar as long as he did not have a belly ache. Unfortunately, Mr. Brock had the tummy ache a great deal of the time. So B-Rock and mawmaw spent all kinds of quality time together....in our jammies.

Rest at last

Bless their hearts!

Throughout the entire holiday and every day spent with my baby grands,

I was haunted with a memory....this photo summed it up

Note the Christmas catalog resting under this little guys head. This fella lived in a small home with his mama and 9 siblings. That afternoon, his house was filled to the brim with all of us who came to visit...yet he never budged.

What was he dreaming of just a few days before Christmas?

An Extra Special Multitude Monday

Ten years ago we were blessed to welcome a beautiful red haired young lady into our family. Elizabeth stole our son David's heart and quickly conquered ours as well.



Throughout this last decade we have loved, laughed and cried with our precious daughter in love and grown to cherish and admire her with each passing day.


Today Dave and Beth blessed us by making us Grandparents for a fourth time. This latest baby grand marked the sixth pregnancy and second child born to our David and Elizabeth.


Despite extreme circumstances that might have caused many to lose hope, I watched as Bethy placed all her hope and faith in God, as a result her life has been a portrait of grace. Elizabeth was completely content to be the very best mother to one, if that was what the Lord willed...and then Beth became pregnant for the sixth time.


Today, on a very special Multitude Monday we welcomed a very healthy and whole Brock Douglas Mills into the world.

God is so very good indeed!!

#111)

Brock, you rock our world!

Banana, Bologna and Peanuts

Back in the old days when I was a girl, summers and other holidays were often spent with my cousins - usually by way of some very patient and loving grandparents, aunts and uncles. These visits were often planned far in advance but just as many times, they were not.

A favorite 'stay over' maneuver was to wait until all the adults were clustered together hugging and saying good byes. We children used this time to stowaway, curling up on various car floor boards, our cousins topping us with their coats or feet in hopes no one would be missed us until we had traveled too far down the road to turn back. Since there were so many in my family we had an advantage over our cousins as one or two of us could make a break for it and often go unnoticed.

Bare in mind, this was long before car seats and seat belt laws - when kids rode wherever there was room or their parents allowed them to. There were 7 kids in our tribe and we sat just about everywhere but the luggage rack.

Often times, when we encountered passing cars gawking and counting heads, nothing tickled us more than to bob and weave enough to throw off any accurate tally. Understand this was before portable DVD players, we took our entertainment where we could get it.

While our stowaway schemes often failed, more often than not the attempt opened the door for family members to invite my brothers and I to stay with them a few days or in some cases weeks.

I remember these visits fondly as some of the richest and best of times of my childhood.

This summer our blond baby grand from St. Louis has come for a visit, a 3 week visit to be exact. Her stay coincides with Mr B's annual Canadian fishing trip and we could not be more thrilled. We are a little more than a week in and the girls and I have been having a blast!

As a rule, there are not many rules...well except maybe the one about not using the words banana, bologna and peanuts and truth be told, that rule is being broken every 6 hours or so.

Anyway, we have put away most of our 'to-do' lists, letting many household chores slide while meeting our primary daily goal: Fun, fun and more fun!

According to my girls...

So far, so good.

I will Not be Enslaved

Recently God has been dealing with me on some very weighty issues. Specifically, what my weight reflects when it comes to where and what I turn to other than my heavenly Father in satisfying my needs.



I shared these revelations God was revealing to me with my niece Jessica a few weeks back.



Shortly afterword, Jess posted the following note on her Facebook page. With her permission I share it with you.



With New Years just a few days away, so many good intentioned resolutions we tend to make - then break, it seemed only fitting.



1 Corinthians 6:12-20 "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.



I’ve decided the best way to get my point across with loosely applying this passage to overeating is just to replace some words.



Please don’t get the fire burning. I’m not trying to be heretical…I realize there are some flaws to my logic, but I also know that I’m not trying to start a new idea or anything and this isn’t a “word from the Lord.” I’m just taking a passage that deals with a sin and applying it to another sin.



Here’s what I think Paul would have written if he were a woman dealing with food issues, LOL.



“All food is legal for me to eat, but not all of it is healthful. All food is OK for me to eat, but I will not be enslaved by it. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food and they are both temporary and will not be important in the end. The body is not made for gluttony, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of the Pillsbury Dough Boy? Never! (My substitutions for verse 16 just got silly…I digress!) But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee gluttony (the running wouldn’t hurt, either.) Every other sin a person commits outside the body, but gluttonous person sins against his own body (I know this may not be correct and go against what Paul originally said, but it makes sense, right? Without making me a heretic? Am I way out of context here?) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body.”



I know some might think it extreme to compare gluttony to sexual sins. I think that may be because most of the time gluttony is socially acceptable. Only in America, folks. Home of the super sized, drive thru, delivered fast food, all you can eat buffets and restaurant meals that really should take a day to eat.



With some people, we have been taught to overeat. I don’t use that as an excuse, but we are not satisfied to just be full most of the time. It used to be that you only stuffed yourself that full on Thanksgiving, but now it seems like a more regular occurrence. If our stomach was meant to only hold so much food, why do we overfill it on so many occasions? We even make jokes about wearing our “eating pants.”I guess to some people this might seem extreme.



It’s just food, right?



If you have food issues, like I do, then getting to the heart of why we overeat is so important.



For me, I’ve narrowed it down to 2 words: Idle and Idol.



I eat when I’m bored and I try to replace God with food. Thinking that it will make me feel better. Choosing to comfort myself with food instead of God's Word.I’m hoping to do some more Bible “study” about this topic.



If you have any insight on this, please share! I think we do this by ourselves so often and it really is a big issue for some people.



Thanks, Tammy, for spurring my brain on this topic!

Spook'n a Ride and 'Hallelujah Parade'

After a long hiatus of Lovin Loud, Trippin, Treating, get'n out the vote and a week of yucky cold I thought it is was about time to post a little something.

So as I wait for the beginning of a week immersed in the Word with one of my favorite Bible teachers, I give you the following photo journal that chronicles a few of the more colorful happenings of me and mine. Enjoy!

For starters:

Our neighborhood hosted a

'Spook Your Ride Halloween Parade'.

Children and some adults walked and rode various rides while parading through a segment of neighborhood.

One of the not so spooky rides

At the end of the route an assortment of games and treats awaited, including hot dogs, s'mores and inflatables.

What's not to love?

For our crew it was more like a 'Hallelujah Parade'

as you may have noticed from the costume choices.

The cool thing is, these kids choose their own dress

which resulted in an adorable collection of Biblical Super Hero's.

The eldest Angel and a Snow Princess

Check out those accessories!

In attendance at this years festivities were 3 angels, 1 Moses and 1 Joseph and an assortment of princesses, ninjas and the obligatory Hanna Montana. Honestly, each one sweeter than the next.

Our little man was not available to trick his ride,

but Mommy brought him by Halloween eve where he had a howling good time.

He and big sis doing a bit a bonding

and a bit more.

This would be some of the howling started.

Free at last!

Now we're talk'n! Where's the candy?

Sister had the best luck at getting Mr. K to smile

a real charmer

Um....was that due to her stellar photography skills,
silly head dress or cool camera?

As expected the real thrill came as the two went door to door displaying much cuteness in hopes of filling their bag and pumpkin with goodies.

One of our more creative neighbors in the 'hood'. How cute are they?

True to form, our little man was most enthusiastic at the realization he was being encouraged to walk by himself, through leaves, up stairs and we about lost him all together when we encountered a motion activated spooky sound machine hidden in a rock. That one really cracked him up!

Unfortunately for him, his night ended early when he tripped on a driveway and bonked his little head. After failed attempts to get him to hold a Little Pony ice pack on his noggin, his Mama took him home to wind down from the nights excitement.

By the time it was all over we had learned a few things:

• Magic carriages can be just about anything and come in all shapes and sizes.


• Little monsters don't bounce very well on pavement no matter how cute they are

and

• You can do just about anything in angel wings....just plan on leaving a trail of feathers in your wake.
  

The lost art of conversation, oh how I missed yea!

Who knew there would be a bonus?

I sure didn't.

During the course of making calls, sending emails....even texting, I have had the joy of spending copious amounts of time with various family members, as we foraged our collective memories for favored recipes along with old stories and sayings that went with them.

Don't know about ya'll but I am terrible about writing group letters, forwarding emails, while running out of time...pretty much NOT getting around to making calls or writing letters to family and friends I really miss catching up with.

Because of this project and a group email I sent out, the most amazing thing took place. A big portion of my large family got together and had some amazingly good visits.

We chatted, reminisced, laughed til we cried! It was such good times.
and so easily done once we set about with a purpose.

Interesting how that is.

Now it may just be me with the whole not - really - communicating thing.
Back before my life got to be so much about cramming one more thing into my schedule, to the point I must carry that schedule around with me, in a cell phone set to pummel me with all manner of alarms even days before events are about to take place. Yet I still manage to miss sending that card, mailing those presents, making that call...

Pathetic!

I have family and friends whom Emily Post proudly claim, as they're never late or miss sending cards and making phone calls on Birthdays, anniversary's, graduations as well as all government holidays.

In between these occasions, this group still makes time to check in with you once a week or more...just because!

Well, this little project gave me and mine a few more of those 'just because' communications.

Boy oh boy, what fun!

The lost art of conversation, oh how I missed yea!

It's really something (and I'm sounding so OLD now) how in this day of the 'Communication Explosion', I get so busy speed dialin this one, fast forwarding that one and texting everywhere else, that I often miss the point of it all... genuine communication.

Of course, I'm just confessing my own sins here.

This project has meant much to me, but most of all helped raise the bar on reaching out and truly touching those I love...and for that I find myself once again most grateful.