A Pajama Mama

Tonight, we watched the Little Drummer Boy together. Below, you will find a repost of my own Little Drummer Boy story from a year ago. Have a blessed Christmas! " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8" That's how the 1968 version of "The Little Drummer Boy"show ends. I'm sure you've heard the song....and you probably saw the tv show as a child. The storyline goes like this....a little orphaned drummer boy and his animal friends follow three kings and a really bright star across a desert. The Little Drummer Boy finds himself at a stable where a newborn baby has just been born and a crowd of shepherds have gathered, along with the three kings. Just as the Little Drummer Boy begins to make his way to the manger, a chariot runs over his little beloved lamb. With a huge tear in his eye, he approaches one of the Three Wise Men and asks him to save his dying lamb. This king told him the lamb was dying and he could do nothing...

Elf is one of our favorite, cheesy Christmas movies. Some people in our house have already watched it THREE times this season...and it's not even December quite yet!! So, I was so excited to find this free printable on Pinterest. I printed it out, put it in a cute aqua frame, added a sparkly snowflake and placed it in a prominent spot in our kitchen.  You can get yours here at LessCakeMoreFrosting.com . A sweet friend is also offering a free printable with this same quote on her site that is absolutely DARLING!!!  Look HERE . The best way to spread Christmas cheer is  singing loud for all to hear!!  The music of Christmas! Let the singing begin!!! Joy to the World!

In our Christmas Advent devotion book this morning, we were reading about the difference in light and darkness, why we need the light, how Jesus is our Light and why we need Jesus, the Light of the World. When God said, "Let there be light," was He foreshadowing The Light of his son and the first Christmas?  While I was reading, Doodle and Butter were "pickin' out pecans." We've had the bowls on the school table all week....something I highly doubt you'd find in "real school." ("Pickin' out pecans" = carefully separating the pecan meat from the shells.) As I was attempting to explain our need for Light, the two bowls before us came into sharp focus and became more than just pecans. They became an object lesson. I had the kids close their eyes tight and attempt to separate pecan meat from pecan shell "in the darkness." It was impossible. The green bowl (pic above) represents lives in the darkness....a hea...

Doodle has been making fortune cookies from play dough every spare moment this week. She was inspired by a handful of real ones she got in her Dorothy basket from our Halloween weekend in the mountains. She has been writing her own "fortunes" on tiny pieces of paper and burying them in the rolled up dough. This one caught me off guard and touched my heart.

This is a repost from last Thanksgiving. It was such a simple activity that ended up creating treasures. I kept some feathers for myself...the ones with love-words on them just for me. And I'm not the only one who still has feathers a year later! It's not too late to start your own basket for this Thanksgiving, you know! Add caption I found a pile of leftover paper turkey feathers for pinecone turkeys and paper plate turkeys of classrooms past. This year, we decided to use the feathers for something a bit different. We took one basket, added a little sign, the feathers and a marker. For the week leading up to Thanksgiving, we are to write one thing we are thankful for on each feather....excluding toys and electronic games and such. Digging deeper. Shifting our focus. What are we truly thankful to Father for this Thanksgiving season? What person or people have impacted our lives this year? What truths have been shown to us? What have we learned about His character th...

One year ago today.  I miss her...we all do. I think of her often...when I see her picture on my dresser, when I see the bowl from her kitchen, when I remember our summer vacations together...I smile. She made me giggle at something every time I was with her. Laughing is a good thing. It's the good things I remember. She was loved so much. My beautiful Grandma at our wedding almost twenty years ago. The day our long, sweltering summer turned to the cooler, welcoming days of autumn is the day our beloved Grandmother went to spend eternity with Father.  September 23, 2010. The significance of this day and the changing of the seasons has not gone unnoticed. At the end of our blistering summer, our flower beds were a mess. The day after Grandma's homegoing service, my Hero cleaned out the dried up, floundering plants and replaced them with straw until spring. The last few years of Grandma's life were hard on her. We watched our beautiful, fragrant flower begin to wit...

Recently, I spent the evening with a group of my most favorite ladies. Collectively, these strong ladies have experienced the highest of highs, the lowest of lows and everything in between. Lots of wisdom and faith to move mountains...I just sit and listen. I've been pondering some things shared that night...some real and raw things. One friend felt she had a big "C" plastered across her head when she was given a C diagnosis. At first, she felt like all people saw was the BIG C. Not her.  Another felt she wore a scarlet letter of shame because of a terrible accident involving her son that led to jail time for him.  Carol Kent , an author/speaker/mom whose words have inspired many of us, speaks of feeling like she had "Mother of Murderer" branded across her forehead. So, this is what has been rolling around inside of me... Our circumstance does not equal our identity. Two completely different things.  Satan knows where we are vu...

The happy couple... On Saturday, August 3, 1991, I married the love of my life.  My hero. My best friend. My protector. My encourager. My sweetheart. Fast forward  TWENTY YEARS . I wouldn't change a thing and I'd do it all over again. We wanted to do something special to commemorate this 20 year marriage milestone.  Our dear friends generously shared their beach home so we kissed the kids goodbye and took off for the week.  Special dinner...gift from friends He knows his steak's coming... This beach house is special to us. Our friends have owned it for about a decade and they've shared it with us since day 1. Hero actually helped move the furniture into the house when it was brand new. My favorite spot in the house is way up on the third floor balcony in the wicker swing. So, at 3:00 p.m. on August 3, 2011 - the exact time we got married twenty years before - we made our way to the swing. We had written letters to each...

So...continuing my whole Catch Up On the Summer blog fest... July was great! Here's a smidgen of what happened! The Boy turned 12!!!  Pirate teeth! Rayray went to Worldview Academy for the 2nd summer. What else is there to do but use up eyeliner in July? I kept my 3 plus BeachMama's 6 at the beach for the week while BeachMama and BeachDaddy went on a great trip. FOUR twelve year old boys.... that was a LOT of twelve-ness. Bodysurfing in the rough, red-flag water... This day took approximately 2.5 years off my life.

I love to blog. I really really do. But I apparently have regularly scheduled stretches of days...or months...when we are living life so much that I don't have (or don't take) the time to chronicle the happenings. So, here's my attempt at catching up. June Grimy and sweaty, but happy! Love Your Neighbor Campaign 2011 Girls spent the week at the grand's stables. First time Doodlebug's been away for that long but she had her sissy and grandparents...and horses. She didn't miss me at all! The teen took an intensive week of Driver's Ed at a local college. Family ministry project with some neighbors. We were blessed to be a part of this.  I painted. But I already blogged that h ere. 

  Do you have pennies all over the place like we do? I find them EVERYWHERE. Normal and strange places.  In the sofa. On the floor. In the jewelry box. In the napkin basket. On a shelf. In the bottom of my purse. Under the bed. Wherever toys are. In anything cup-shaped on my dresser.  In the cup holder in the car. In the freezer. (The Boy freezes everything to see what might happen.) Don't forget the Winn-Dixie parking lot. We were looking up the value of one of our silver dollars last night and found some interesting information. A 1943 copper penny is so rare, it is worth anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 dollars! (Read this .) Our silver dollar from the 1800s is only worth $60! Some old silver dollars are worth thousands... Years ago, someone told me to never throw away a penny or walk by one on the ground. The words "In God We Trust" are on the pennies and they are a small but powerful reminder of Who is in control of our lives. Through the years, I've ...

The painting and the painting and the painting. I spent part of our first week of summer break painting our porch french doors RED .. Whose idea was that??? It took FOUR coats of paint and four mornings of painting to FINALLY be finished. It took our idiotic kitty Punkin all of FOUR seconds of being shut on the porch to scratch a patch of said red paint from my beautiful door. Why must we have claws, again? ANYWAY, last week, The Boy and I dismantled the school room while one sister was at VBS and one sister was at Driver's Ed. We gave our "soft fern" green school walls a little fresh boost with "celery stick" green to better match the dining area. Then, I tackled the tired wooden desk and shelves in the room. The desk belonged to little boy Hero. It is wood except for the desktop...which is wood-looking laminate. This is why I held off painting the desk these last 20 years. Finally, I had had ENOUGH of the pitiful sad desk. I found an "expert" a...

Our Favorite Top Ten Things To Do  With Summertime Squash 1. Shred zucchini with a cheese grater and add to spaghetti sauce. 2. Zucchini Bread. A quick search on my favorite recipe website yielded 94 zucchini bread recipes . 3. Chop into chunks, dust with seasoned bread crumbs and saute in olive oil with onions, bell peppers, corn (or any other garden veggies you have), add chopped garden tomatoes when other veggies are just about done. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve with rice. 4. Chop into chunks, spread on a baking pan, drizzle with evoo, toss with salt and seasonings. We love Weber Grinder - roasted Garlic and Herbs. Roast in oven at 350 until tender. 5. Freeze for later use (all sorts of squash-freezing advice found online). 6. Slice and eat raw with ranch dressing,  hummus, or spinach dip . 7. Slice long ways, coat with meal, salt/pepper, and pan fry. 8. Slice long ways, drizzle with evoo, season to taste and grill alongside your chicken or steak!...

To my delight, we have had an abundant supply of yellow squash and zucchini. I've gotten quite creative with ways to cook the squash that appeals to the discriminating taste buds of our children. I was excited today to try my sweet friend's recipe for Zucchini Quiche. She is a veteran homeschool mom and has brought this quiche several times to our homeschool meals. It's so savory and delicious. You will love it! And...if you have a thing about quiche, you can call it something else. It's barely a quiche, anyway,  with only two eggs in it and all.... Cindy's Zucchini Quiche 1 pie crust 4 cups sliced zucchini 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup (one stick) butter ( 1/4 cup should be plenty.) 1/4 cup parsley (I used fresh, chopped) 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon basil 1/2 teaspoon oregano (I was all out, so made it without and it was still wonderful.) 2 eggs 2 cups shredded mozzarella or muenster cheese Saute onion a...

LucyBelle's First Day Home  I resisted. I was the hold out. But we told the kids that we would consider getting a little doggy when our two elderly outside kitties passed on. The kitties didn't make it through the spring...and the lobbying for a puppy began. Rayray had wanted a yorkiepoo for quite sometime and talked her siblings into it, too. We visited a kennel and saw several breeds....shih-poo, poodle, and this one little black yorkie-poo. I could see it in Rayray's eyes...we could hold all the little cute puppies we wanted to hold, but it was the little yorkiepoo that had stolen her heart. The kids voluntarily pooled their saved money to pay for half of Lucy's adoption fees. Two days later, LucyBelle came home with us. My sweet puppy! She is 3/4 yorkshire terrier and 1/3 poodle. She weighs 5 pounds, almost exactly. Rayray has taught her some tricks...sit, lay, roll over, dance. She LOVES playing ball with Hero. When she wants to play, she will worry us ...

"Mommy, for my 8th birthday, I want to get my hair cut." So, we went to see "Miss Ronda", who worked her hair-magic. She loved it...even though it's not as short as she wanted to go....but she still lost 6-8 inches. Birthday hair! Big Sissy, Rayray, took her turn with her "magic wand."  Yes, you can still have piggytails!

Or we might be just plain ol' rednecks. This is what was happening in our "room of learning" while I was cooking up a scrumptious dinner last night.  THIS contraption is what I found in our master bedroom after the scrumptious dinner.  A few years ago, we closed in the garage to make a lovely master bedroom but it gets the last trickle of cold air from the a/c unit AND is on the hottest, sunniest end of the house. Since Summer has decided to get an early start on the three-digit temps down here in the south of Georgia, we are working ovetime to keep the room cool.....three fans blowing, blinds and curtains closed, extra insulation in the attic, etc.  The Hero has a lightbulb moment....He did a little google research, spent less than ten dollars and mostly used things we had. He and The Boy together created the lovely, the beautiful, the "won't take up too much space", homemade air conditioner, pictured above.  Does it work? Well, as long as the...

Clutching my stomach and bent over double, I crouched in the hall at the plastic surgeon's office trying not to get sick or pass out. All I could hear was my just-turned 7 year old babygirl screaming in excruciating pain and my Hero's attempt to soothe her with his words. It's been a year today and I'm finally sharing the story. The morning of June 1, 2010, we were finishing up our last week of homeschooling before summer. I had walked into our bedroom to plug in my laptop. My babygirl came running into my room to tell me something funny the kitty had done. Then, it happened. She tripped over the rug in my room and fell, face first, onto the corner of the cedar chest. I didn't see the accident. I heard it. By the time I got to her, she was up, had her hand over her mouth and was stunned and panicky. It took me a split second glance at the injury to see that her mouth needed medical attention, immediately. After a quick call to our beloved pediatrician, we...

Well, what on earth have we been up to the last 10 days? I decided not to bombard the blog with copious amounts of pictures, although there are some mighty cute and blog-worthy ones. Instead, what we have here is one picture which embodies the essence of our recent acitivites. Doodlebug danced her heart out in her recital. Doodlebug turned 8. EIGHT. My baby... Papa turned 78 on Memorial Day. The entire country had a day off for his birthday. Ok, not really. And...Hero had to work anyway so not really a holiday for us. And somewhere buried in there, I helped execute our homeschool co-op's graduation reception for 150 people. Today, I'm doing what we are supposed to be doing in the summer.... I'm eating a blt, with tomatoes from Papa's garden...trying to decide what to do with allll those yellow squash and cucumbers he brought over.....and what time we should go swimming at the neighbors. Happy Summer!

The ocean is like a blanket of blue; It covers the sand and all the fish, too. It keeps them warm and protected each day, And at night, it gives them a place to stay. The ocean is like a great lion roaring; It bellows and growls when it is storming. It extends its claws restlessly upon the shore, As if it is trying to stretch out even more. The ocean is like an orchestra of strings; It plays its night music so beautifully. Sometimes, though, the salty wind joins in, And the tune they create together seems heaven-sent. When I look into the blue eyes of the ocean, When I listen to the song it sings, I have heard music composed by my Creator; And, perhaps, a subtle message, meant only for me.

Because my "fans" asked for a picture..... I found this little gem of a cake recipe on the back of the Harvey's circular ad. I confess, I normally don't even look at the circular. And to think I almost missed this recipe! Harvey's Key Lime Cake 1 pkg lemon cake mix (Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme) 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup lime juice (key lime, if you can find it) 1 (3 oz.) pkg lime Jello 1/2 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs ICING: 2 cups sifted powdered sugar (the recipe says "confectioners" and my mama says "4x sugar" 1/2 cup lime juice (or key lime) Blend all ingredients together (not icing ones, of course) with an electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. (I actually just used a whisk and it worked fine.) Pour into a greased tube pan or a 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. After removing from oven, use an ice pick and stick through cake, top to bottom, many times. (Or "poke tiny holes all over it."...

" Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything  by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all our powers of thought will be a garrison to guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:6-7 Our part :  Pray. Thank Him. Find the lovely and true. His part:  PEACE! Can it be that simple?  Yes, because His word is always true.  We feel anxious over a situation or circumstance. We have a choice. Do we worry about it, tossing and turning in our sleep? Or do we pray about it? It's so easy to forget this verse, this promise. We pray, He brings peace.  Yes, it's a battle at times to choose the way of Peace. And keep choosing. But choosing prayer and thanksgiving over worrisome thoughts brings about true contentment .  In Linda Dillow's book, "Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman's Guide to Finding Contentment", she shares a treasure found in a journal of an African...

This is a Mother's Day repost from last year. The video is too good to not share again. Happy Mother's Day! ******************************************************* I stand in a circle of friends who are laughing and sharing about their lives. I begin to join in the conversation.... and no one notices I've spoken one word. The talking and laughing continues as if I weren't even there. Did I just think I spoke and really didn't? Am I invisible? I fall into bed exhausted after a long day. What exactly did I do to make a difference today in the life of my children? Did they even appreciate the roast  for dinner, the laundry all washeddriedfolded, the lessons carefully planned? Am I invisible? Most of the time, I'm fine with being invisible. Let our little family just live our lives quietly...stay out of the limelight. When I walk into a room and no one notices, I'm usually fine with that. But then... there are those times when I struggle with it - the f...