Christmas 2010

Christmas was a good day. A time of family, fellowship, food and food and more food. There was a distinct sadness as we prepared to open gifts. Dad normally would open his Bible to Luke 2 and read the story of Christ's birth, give a small devotional and prayer. This year, we all sat for a moment and waited... wondering if he would at least try. But he had a difficult day on Christmas and was unable to fill his usual role. Mom tried to fill the gap with words of love and thanks for the family... but the absence of normalcy was evident. We are praying and hoping for a new year... a blessed year.

Gifts were still abundant, despite the lack of funds everyone has been experiencing. But the focus was not on that but more on the gift of God, the love of family and the precious time we have together... and of coarse the food. *smile*All in all, it was a blessed day.

New Christmas Eve tradition

I am a procrastinator. I'm finishing sewing my last two presents today... on Christmas Eve. I guess it's my new Christmas Eve tradition... this certainly isn't the first year I've done this. *smile*

Quigley says "snort". Daisy is sleeping on my hand as I type. I love my pugs.

God of the impossible

There's a song that's been in my heart this week. Written by Sarah Reeves (a signed artist that I've actually met and spent time hanging out with... she is precious.) Anyway... I've been dealing with some struggles this week... sadness and the like.
My Dad is not doing well at all. I told my mom today that I really miss "Dad"... He has not been himself for about a year now. It just makes me sad.
This was supposed to be my child's first Christmas. I'm still not pregnant. And I seem to be surrounded by children and babies. It's just difficult some days. The more I think about adoption right now, the more I feel more like Sarah in the Bible... trying to find my own way to God's promise. If the Lord leads us to adoption, I am totally and completely happy with that. But if I am trying to find a shortcut to the Lord's blessing, then I just need to stop and remind myself of who God really is.

So this song has been my encouragement this week.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzFBJQjMnbU


God of the Impossible

My biggest storm, Your drop of rain
My raging fire, Your candle flame
My deepest ocean is like a puddle at Your feet

My darkest valley, my greatest mountain
They are Your prairie for You are constant
Your ways are higher than any other
So I will sing

God of the impossible
Maker of all miracles
I stand in awe of You
I'm so amazed by how You
Reach into my brokenness
Make me beautiful again
I believe Yes, I believe
Nothing is impossible with You

When I am weak You are my strength
And all Your power is made complete
You turn my failures to victories
Hallelujah, hallelujah

God of the impossible
Maker of all miracles
I stand in awe of You
I'm so amazed by how You
Reach into my brokenness
Make me beautiful again
I believe Yes, I believe
Nothing is impossible with You

Healer, Healer I'm restored by a healer
Provider, Provider I am filled by a provider
Deliverer, Deliverer I'm set free by a deliverer
Savior, my Savior I'm redeemed by a savior

God of the impossible
Maker of all miracles
I stand in awe of You
I'm so amazed by how you
Reach into my brokenness
Make me beautiful again
I believe Yes, I believe
Nothing is impossible with You

Random thoughts...

It's a cold night so I'm making chili. But I'm honestly not hungry... already had some serious snack time today. (Chips and homemade salsa... yum.)

I've been thinking today that it really does not matter how much money you make, what job you have, what education you have... in the end, the most important things are: do you love Jesus? do you do your best for your family? do you work hard at whatever the Lord gives you? I think that is how we should gauge our importance... and CERTAINLY NOT in our weight or dress size. Just a thought.

On a very unprofessional note, I'm hoping an ice storm really does blow through Nashville... nothing severe, just enough so that I do not have to go to work tomorrow.

The word "adoption" has been frequent in our home lately. It has been almost 2 years since we decided to try for a baby. Maybe the child God has for us won't be biological. I still long for the pregnancy experience. I honestly want to experience birth. I know, I know. I must be crazy, right? But I know this is all in the Lord's hands. I have no choice but to trust Him with it.

I made a bow to put in my Daisy pug's fur. She does NOT like it. I have to attach it with Caro syrup. *giggle*

Andy is playing Nintendo... the original 8-bit Nintendo... Zelda to be exact. I think it's cute. He reverts to the days of childhood and sick days off from school.

Christmas is coming. I am still SO not ready. If I would only quit procrastinating on my projects. Maybe I wouldn't have to stay up late on Christmas Eve again sewing like I did a few years ago making a quilt for my mom... at least I can say that she loves it. It was worth the effort.

Have not sent out Christmas cards yet. I'm sad about that. I wanted to send out a "family" picture with Andy, me, and the pugs... but it's really hard to get a picture of us all since there is no one to take the picture. Was going to get professional pictures done, but with the budget tight right now, we just couldn't afford it. Oh well.

Laundry Detergent... by popular demand

Okay... here is the recipe I use for laundry. It takes about $9 to get all the items needed to start out but then it is between $1-$2.50 per recipe after that... until you run out of something besides the soap. Seriously, we have figured it out to about $.03 per load. And it seems to work really well. It takes about 10 minutes to make and lasts for MONTHS.

Ingredients:


1 Bar of Fels Naptha soap, grated (I found this soap at Kroger and Publix... around $2.50 each bar at Kroger and $0.99 at Publix. Look on the laundry aisle at a major chain grocery store... either at the top or bottom of the shelves since it's not a common item. This is a laundry soap - you can also use Ivory soap but the Fels Naptha cleans better. I grate it with a cheese grater.)

1 cup Borax (Also found on the laundry aisle. Box of powder.)

1/2 cup Laundry Soda (Again... the laundry aisle. Laundry soda is like baking soda, just stronger. I have the "Arm & Hammer" brand... yellow box.)

5 gallon bucket

Hot water

Directions:

Put grated soap in a saucepan with just enough water to cover it well on the stove on medium heat. Stay with it to keep it from boiling over but heat it long enough to have no chunks of soap left.

Put Borax and Laundry soda in the five gallon bucket. Pour melted soap mixture into bucket. Add hot water until near the top of the bucket. (Stir before water gets to top so not to splash everywhere but make sure all ingredients are mixed.)

Cover and leave overnight.

Stir the next day. It should be the consistency of jell-o.

Use 1/2 cup per load. If you have an HE machine, use about 1/3 cup per load.

That's it!

My next endeavor... dishwasher detergent. Hmmm...