A Pajama Mama

Our Rayray turned 12 yesterday. How did that happen? A dozen years....slipped by so fast. We barely blinked, it seems. Her daddy and I wanted to give her a very special and meaningful gift for her 12th bd. I found Lea on etsy.com who makes beautiful hand stamped jewelry. Together, we created a necklace for Rachel that signifies exactly what we want Rachel to always remember...that she is "loved beyond measure," not just by her mama and daddy but by her Heavenly Father. We included the scripture from Ephesians 3:14-19 on the necklace, which is one her daddy prays over her and her siblings. It turned out beautiful and truly touched Rayray's heart when we gave it to her and explained the meaning behind it. Fri night, we had a cook-out with her Mema, Papa and Aunt Ro. Breakfast in bed (which included ice cream) on Sat morning. She and I shopped half the day at the mall...in the junior dept for the first time, I might add.... and she now has her ears pierced and red shoes (se...

" 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 for him.....but he knew a King among Kings who could. At that, he motioned towards the baby in the manger. The Little Drummer Boy said, "But I have no gift to ...

Rayray played several Christmas songs at the Presbyterian church this morning. FeO took a little video with our digi camera. She did a great job. They enjoyed her so much, they invited her to play for their special Christmas Eve service. Enjoy! If you'd like to see a short clip, click here. (The sound isn't that great and yes, that's me at the piano.)

I love our little homeschool co-op. There are huge co-ops up and down the road thirty minutes in each direction from us....but we like it small. We have around 10 families with 25 or so kids involved in our co op. The kids range from toddler aged to 18. We had our co-op Christmas party yesterday. We ate lunch together, played "that" game with Christmas ornaments. It was such beautiful weather here that all of the kids went outside to throw a football, visit, play. I thought I heard someone crying outside, peeked out the window, and what I saw really touched me. 21 kids, from preschoolers to 18 yr olds, were sitting in a huge circle together.....playing duck, duck, goose. No grown up made them do it. It just happened. They were laughing and having the best time! The number one question homeschoolers are asked has to do with "socializing." Many don't understand that the question is moot and invalid for today's homeschooler. What defines socialization, anyway? ...

I've been back from our awesome Girls Getaway Cruise to Cozumel on the Carnival Holiday for over a week and am still processing it all. Beachmama and I had such an incredible time on the ship and met some great people. We ate wonderful food...too much actually. The ship staff was friendly and took very good care of us. The ship rocked and rolled the entire time but it wasn't unbearable. I mentioned in another post some of the more well-known folks who'd be on the boat. Karen Kingsbury was by far the most gracious person we met. She let us know that she was on the boat to meet us. I know she was worn out! Meeting Karen was like seeing an old friend again. I felt like giving her a big hug and asking where Ashley was! She and Richie McDonald were on stage together. She and Richie (former Lonestar lead) have written songs together based on her books. Richie was on the boat with his wife and kids and he was friendly and very normal, easy going. He sang some of their most well k...

Have you ever wondered how old your body really is, if you factor in heredity, your current mental, emotional, physical health, etc? This Health Age Calculator is fun to do....fairly thorough in questions it asks. But in reality, no one knows the number of our days here on this earth except Father. Psalm 139:16 says, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." No, our days on this earth are not guaranteed and can't be predicted by a computerized health age calculator....but as Believers, Father guarantees us ETERNAL LIFE. "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life...." John 3:36. And if you're wondering, my health age is 20 and my life span is 94....(and I even admitted to only drinking coffee for breakfast!) And my heavenly life span? Eternal . Thank you Jesus. Thank you.

The Girl wanted a real hairstyle to mark the transition from 11 to 12. We decided to go ahead and get it now so she can enjoy it during the holidays, since her bday is after Christmas. Enjoy the before and after pictures. She's growing up, y'all. Sniff, sniff.