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Christmas Morning
Merry Christmas! I wanted to share a few pictures from our morning. We plan on staying home all day, relaxing. The kids each have lots of new things to play with! Enjoy your day. Love, Shanda
“One of the most
glorious messes in the world
is the mess created
in the living room
on Christmas day.
Don’t clean it up too quickly.”
-Andy Rooney
Merry Christmas!
I always admire this tree when we drive by it. Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous? And it’s HUGE, much bigger than it looks in the photo.
Till, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
~Longfellow
New Pastor
I was filled with excitement all day yesterday, waiting for church at 7pm so that we could do the voting on our new pastor. My husband has been on the pulpit committee since last February but this process has been mine also, since he was so involved in it and I care deeply what happens to our church. I have felt so burdened. I have wept, prayed, begged and pleaded with God for a resolution to our problems. The stress I felt was like a heavy weight–which drove me to my Bible for relief (a good thing!).
If you read my post for Sunday you know that the sermon Pastor F. preached was above and beyond what I had hoped, “O ye of little faith” am I. (always trust Him and have faith!)
We had the vote and the pulpit committee went out to count. They returned with the news that the vote was very close to being unanimous, Pastor F. was called and he immedietly accepted the Pastor “under-shepherd” role for our church.
What a relief after years of unrest at our church! I hope and pray (with faith!) that the Lord is leading us to a fresh, green pasture. (see Ps. 23)
I read this in my devotions this morning and thought it was applicable to me personally but also to our church:
“Every difficult task that comes across your path–every one that you would rather not do, that will take the most effort, cause the most pain, and be the greatest struggle–brings a blessing with it. And refusing to do it regardless of personal cost is to miss the blessing.
Every difficult stretch of road on which you see the Master’s footprints and along which He calls you to follow Him leads unquestionably to blessings. And they are blessings you will never recieve unless you travel the steep and thorny path.
Every battle field you encounter, where you are required to draw your sword and fight the enemy, has the possibility of victory that will prove to be a rich blessing to your life. And every heavy burden you are called upon to lift hides within itself a miraculous secret of strength.” J.R. Miller, from the devotional STREAMS
“How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord”
1787
1. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
2. “Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
3. “When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
4. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
5. “The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never, forsake!”
Magnify theLord with me and bless His holy name
Tonight is the vote at our church. We are voting on a Pastoral candidate that was here for 6 days preaching, teaching, and getting to know us. Please, if you read this pray for God’s perfect will for us. Pray for our church. Thank you! It truly means a lot to me.
Friendly’s with my Children
Sunday, December ?
When did you get so big? When did we start to laugh together and talk intelligently? Can I try your milkshake? Yes, it is the best I ever had. Sure, I’ll try yours, too.
Daughter o’mine
Other times other days. . .this would’ve stressed me out. . .go ahead and make a mess tonight, Grace!
Where do you put all the food you eat? Which sauce is your favorite? Ketchup of course.
The clam chowder is for mommy.
Vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce and m n m’s and whipped cream and a cherry on top please.
“Quality time with them
is never regretted”
Cookie Exchange. . . .a delightful afternoon
I made my russian tea cakes on Saturday morning and by the time Saturday was over I
smelled like cookies,
felt like a cookie, and
was filled with cookie.
Cathi had a cookie exchange at her house. She had her table all nicely decorated and when we arrived we put our plate of cookies on the table with the recipe. After the majority of us were there, we started sampling them all: no-bake cookies, sugar cookies, butter meltaways, butterscotch, candy-cane, spritz, chocolate kisses, cranberry white chocolate. . . .etc. . . . .
There were festive blank recipe cards and pens so that we could copy down our favorites.
It was fun to sit and talk and munch.
Amy, Mary (our candidate Pastor’s wife!), and Karen
My sister Amanda and our hostess Cathi
Bridgette
Me (working on my last cookie) and Jenny-poo
Courtney and Kathy
We each left with our plate filled with a variety of yummy Christmas treats.
I don’t know about everyone else. But, mine are gone. 
Today my heart is full of gratitude to my Heavenly Father and I want to try to share.
Today we had a man candidate to be the Pastor of our church. He taught Sunday School and preached in the morning service.
The sermon was incredible. He was very much “Preacher”. . . .while he was preaching I could not imagine him as anything else.
He preached on the Marvelous Mercy of God, using Romans 11:33-36 has his text:
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of Him, and through HIM, and TO HIM, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen
sermon quotes:
“The more I know of the awesomeness of God and how BIG HE is, the smaller my problems appear”
“Our God hung the stars in their silvery sockets”
“No one, not even the greatest philosopher, can come near to the knowledge of God: the best we can do is mere baby-talk compared to Him”
“Just the very fact that you have a Bible on your lap right now is an act of God’s mercy“
“Before we were saved we were in total darkness. Then Jesus came and lit our way. He found us and saved us”
“If I rest in my morality it will be a roadblock. Rest in JESUS CHRIST ALONE”
RELISH your redemption
I was in tears by the time the message was over. It was everything I could have desired in a sermon. It had depth, it glorified GOD, it made me really think, it had good quotes and illustrations, he even quoted my father’s favorite hymn by William Cowper. I felt like God was giving me a gift by showing me that yes, He hears our prayers, and yes, He delights in giving His children above and beyond what they can hope or think! The church problems we went through hurt me deeply–way down in the core of me–and greatly effected my life. Therefore I am filled with gratitude to see the awesome way God is working everything all out.
We vote on Wednesday.
**Let me know what you think of the pictures! My Dad took them with his new digital camera. They were taken outside my parent’s home (my childhood home). I have never seen my Dad take a picture, so it’s going to be fun to see the world through his eyes.
Thankful, so thankful,
for God’s mercy
Cookie Exchange
Russian Tea Cakes
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar
Heat oven to 400. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla. Stir in flour and salt until dough holds together; shape into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until set but not brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
Roll in powdered sugar while warm; cool. Roll in powdered sugar again. About 4 doz. cookies
Good to be Home 