Merry Christmas!

......"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were so afraid ... And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
~Linus Van Pelt from A Charlie Brown Christmas

I hope you have a very, very Merry Christmas. See you in the new year!

Christmas ribbons.....

I remember my Dad always HAD to have a box of ribbon candy around the house every Christmas when I was a kid. Yet none of it ever got eaten! I think it was just a tradition thing with him. My Dad passed away 7 years ago. I'm missing him a lot this Christmas.

Faith...big, beautiful faith

I read the paper the other day, about a father and husband in San Diego who lost his entire family Monday when that F-18 crashed into his home. He spoke for the first time yesterday. His first words were “I’ve seen that the pilot is ok….Pray for him that he doesn’t suffer because of this”.

WOW,WOW,WOW. I don’t know Mr. Dong Yoon and have no idea of his religious leanings or if he has any, but that is a Christian statement if I’ve heard one. Mr. Yoon lost his wife, mother-in-law and his 2 children and his first thought is to offer peace and compassion to the pilot. I hope and pray to God I never, ever have to suffer the loss that Mr. Yoon is going through right now. But if I ever do, I hope and pray that I have the same grace, compassion, love and faith to immediately go where Mr. Yoon did. You are a good, good man, Mr. Yoon. Bless you and may YOU have peace and healing, too.

Here's a cool website for you to check out, too. Celebrities who have been saved share their testimonies...... http://iamsecond.com/

A So-Cal Christmas....

The weather was so gorgeous in San Diego this weekend after the rainstorms last week, wasn’t it? Cassie and I went out driving this past weekend because it was soooooo warm. We got the biggest kick out of driving around Thanksgiving weekend, with the top down, listening to Christmas music on the radio. It was beautiful! But it made me giggle more than once. We enjoyed watching people outside putting up their Christmas lights on their houses. One man in our neighborhood was wearing his Santa hat while decorating. So cute….I noticed that most of the neighborhoods have their subdivision signs all decorated. It was just nice driving around getting in the mood. I love Christmas and everything about it. I love the shopping for gifts, the wrapping paper and bows, the hiding of gifts around the house, the food, the parties, the sparkles of all the lights and tinsel…..*sigh*…….

I do have one thing that I collect, in regards to Christmas and that is nutcrackers. A few years ago, Tanner gave me a nutcracker for Christmas. At the time, it was not anything I collected, but he was beautiful and I loved it because it came from my friend. A few days later at a relatives house, they had their very big mantel lined with nutcrackers, big and small. And I just couldn't stop staring at them. That was the start. I now have 38 nutcrackers…..uhhh......make that 40, because I bought 2 more over the weekend. I don’t spend a lot on them and they are not antiques or rare, but I just love finding one that is different than the others I have. There is such a variety of them out there, too. The ones I found this weekend, one was a typical nutcracker soldier with 3 little nutcracker soldiers standing around his feet and the other one had the nutcracker 'king' sitting on a rocking horse. THIS has become my thing--and I offically blame Tanner. (just kidding!) Every Christmas I love pulling all of them out of storage and rediscovering them all over again.
Do you have something Christmas-ey that you collect??

A thankful Thanksgiving...

I was reading my friend Kellies’ blog this morning and she was telling the story of how she purposefully parked far away from the store she needed to shop in yesterday, in order to get some extra exercise. The walk though caused her son to complain a little about how far they had to walk. That led Kellie into a nice little life lesson with her kids about how thankful they should be that they have the working legs to do the walking.

Haven’t we all—even as adults—caught ourselves ka-vetching about something silly? I think we all get wrapped up in our own drama sometimes that we forget how good we have it. We could all be more thankful for the things we do have. Even the little things. Even when bad things happen, be thankful—‘cause they could be worse, couldn’t they?
Have you ever made a little list of the things you are grateful for? Can you list 5? 10? A fellow-blogger of mine came up with a list of 75! I LOVE THAT!

Can I make this point even bigger for you? This morning I got a phone call from a Dad who wanted the number to Toys for Tots because he needs to register his kids to receive toys this Christmas. I don’t know this man, but my heart just swelled with love for him and his family. Thank you, Sir, for doing what you are doing for your family. I know it takes a lot to reach out for help and today you and yours are included in my list of prayers. And if you don’t find what you need at Toys for Tots, I’ll find you help elsewhere. What an awesome father you are. He also made me thankful for organizations like Toys for Tots to be there for some very needy and deserving folks.

This Thanksgiving….be thankful. For everything---even the small stuff. Even when times are tight, and this year they are very tight. But still, there are soooooo many things in our lives and our world to be thankful for. Make your list and keep adding to it! I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks
to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5: 19-20

Stepping out of my comfort zone....

I got an email from a lady I call Gran’ma Lou. Her name is actually Louise, but she prefers Lou. She congratulated me on being baptized and wanted to know how my ‘new life’ was going…..

You see, I’ve always been a believer, but never was really a serious Christian. My weight loss of 140 lbs started on January 1, 2007 with a prayer—the first time I prayed for the strength to actually lose the weight---and it worked. As everyday passed and every pound came off, I gave thanks and the more I gave thanks, the more I felt my heart changing. It was during this same time that I found a wonderful church that introduced me to a Bible I could actually read and understand. And it soooo spoke to me. Becoming a Christian has been a major transformation. And it's usually one that starts on the inside. I believe God started with my outsides first and along the way, the insides changed too. He does use some creative and unique ways to get into your life. And through my weight loss was how He got into mine.

I took being baptized very seriously. Making the full-on commitment to Christ has meant a lot of changes for me—I mean A LOT! I have stepped out of my comfort zone more than once over the past year and a half which is tough for me. To give complete control of your life and every aspect of it over to God, for someone who’s somewhat of a control freak, is tough. But for every change I have made, for every decision I’ve asked guidance on and for every prayer I’ve prayed, good has come from it, so I know I’m on the right track. I love my new life. I feel happiness and contentment like I’ve never felt before. I’m being led down paths I myself would have never thought of traveling and I’m doing new, good things. I’m meeting some amazing people along the way who are teaching me things and opening my heart to new experiences. My only regret in life now, is that this didn’t happen sooner. But as I have learned—it’s all in the timing and His timing is perfect.

I was baptized by Pastor Harry, the one who introduced me to Christ, in the Pacific Ocean, at sunset. HELLO! What could be more perfect? Only the fact that my husband got baptized with me……

Do you need Jesus in your life? Click here.....

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the
calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity
of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism..... Ephesians 4: 1-5

Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants...it's all in how you look at it!

I have a friend--I'll call her Shellie--who emailed me to say she had lost 10 lbs in her first week of starting her weight loss adventure. YAY! Last week she wrote that in week 2 she “only lost 2.4 lbs”. I get that after a 10 lb week, that 2 ½ doesn’t seem like a lot, but that is actually a very healthy loss after the huge loss in week 1. But when it is YOU standing on that scale having worked your hardest allllll week long and saying “dang it, I only lost 1 lb”, those numbers sometimes don’t add up as fast as you want!

Here’s a trick for you and I shared this with ‘Shellie’. This was something I did during those weeks where I had lower losses than I wanted. I told ‘Shellie’ to go to her refrigerator and pull out 10 sticks of butter and hold them in her hands. That is 2 ½ lbs. (1 stick=1/4 lb) All of a sudden, before your eyes, you see how much 2 ½ lbs really is. So for that week when you ‘only lose 1lb’, and are kinda bummin’ about it, go right to the fridge and pull out 4 sticks of butter and realize that that is how much fat you lost off your body…..1 lb all of a sudden looks like the big amount that it really is!

Wanna hear some mind boggling math?? I lost a total of 140 lbs…..that’s 540 sticks of butter! THAT’S a lot of buttah! See? It’s all in how you look at it sometimes…….who knew butter would be such an eye opener!!! ; )

(I’m still on jury duty for the next couple of days according to the judge)