OK, I'll play......

A little Christmas time questionnaire...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Egg nog, egg nog lattes, egg nog milkshakes.....yummo!

2.Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Haven't you heard the song," ...Santa Claus is.......dead."

3. Colored lights on house/tree or white?
White and blue lights on tree and this year we did colored on the outside along with some white on shrubs.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, but did you know that mistletoe is a parasitic plant that attacks trees and can kill them?????

5.When do you put your decorations up?
New Years day.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Candied yams.

7.When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I think we were in 1st or 2nd grade and I remember being so mad because my dad went to great lengths(climbing up on roof and making reindeer prints in snow) to prove tous that Santa was real. He lied to us. I was so mad which is why I refused to tell my children the same lie and boy was Con mad at me for telling the girls the truth about Santa when they were 3 and 4.(the marriage almos ended over that one....)

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
sometimes one gift but the rest on Christmas morn.

9. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
I love that each of our ornaments represents a wonderful memory for us. Some are homemade, some are bought but all very precious. We fill out the tree with various hues of blue glass orbs, of course.

10. Snow. Love it or dread it?
Love, Love, Love it!!!!

11. Can you ice skate?
Heck, yeah. some of my favorite menories of our youth group was going ice skating in Walla WAlla.

12. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Pumpkin Pie(ditto)

13. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Who doesn't like receiving gifts, but the real joy for me is giving. I love to watch their reaction and I love showing love to others through giving.

14. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Oh Holy Night

15. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?
Yum!

16. Do you attend an annual Christmas party?
If our SS has one we will go but Con's work doesn't have one.

17. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ's?
Jeans and a sweater Christmas eve but definately flannel jammies in the morn.

18. Do you own a Santa hat.
No, but Lacey has one that she puts on the dog.

19. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?
My family Christamas eve. We do our own thing Christmas morn and then go to Con's folks around lunch time.
Personally I would love to go to the mountains with all of my friends and family and share a huge cabin, go skiing in the afternoon, eat chili and cornbread and drink hot spiced cider and just hang out with all my favorite people.

I'm tagging Ginger and Tricia since they haven't posted in awhile.

Better questions.....

God's little miracles.....

This is what we got up to this morning.
A "reflection" from an ornament on our tree....?????
Isn't that cool?
We're calling it our "miracle of the moment".

all you need is love....

It's 1:00 in the morning and I can't sleep so I'll blog.
An ugly situation happened last evening and I am just trying to grasp what God has in it for me.
I have been struggling with my flesh for 2 hours and I can't resolve it on my own.
Duh....
I really don't know why I even try, afterall, I'm dumber than a fencepost.
I decided to read my bible and try for a "fresh perspective"(should have tried that first).
He showed me lots of verses about valuing true friends and speaking wise words that are like apples of gold to a friend, about how friends sharpen one another just as iron sharpens iron, etc.
But what God really wanted me to know and understand is that if I have faith to move mountains but I have not love..... I am nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, it is not rude nor seeks its own, it is not easily provoked and thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
Love accepts any hardship or rejection, and continues unabated to build up and encourage.
The love described by Paul in this chapter means determining what is best for another person and then doing it.
This is the kind of love that God shows to us.
Thank you, Father, for your gift of love.

your love language....?

So, God has totally been revealing His heart to me and has challenged me to love people the way that He loves them and then to ACT on that love.
"How?" I've been asking.
"Love them through my eyes" He has said to me.
And so I have been seeking to understand what makes people feel loved.
What is their love language and how can I fill their love bank not based on what makes me feel loved but truly understanding what actions I can show that would lead to them feeling loved and valued.
For instance: I feel most loved when people spend time with me and when people do special little things for me, so, my love language is time and gifts.
Lacey's love language is words of encouragment.
Nevada's is affection.
Con's is words of encouragement and affection and time.
So, if I want Lacey to feel loved/valued I shouldn't show her what makes me feel loved but what makes her feel loved so I would tell her how much she means to me
rather than getting her a gift, which is how I feel loved.
Conversely, I feel a little uncomfortable hearing words of affirmation because I would rather spend time with you in order to feel valued by you.
If Nevada needed encouragement I shouldn't tell her how much she means to me but rather I should show her by giving her a hug and expressing my love to her in the way she feels most loved.
God made all of us with unique features and He meets us where we are at, doesn't He?
What a great example He left for us to really meet people where they are and show them the love that He gave us.
With that in mind I thought it would be interesting to take a poll and hear what you feel is your love language.
I'll start:

Lori's love language is time and gifts

What is yours?

So close......

The girls had their first basketball game last night and guess what?
They went into OVERTIME!!!!!!
WOW!!!!
They did really well and should be very proud of themselves, unfortunately the score ended up 16-17, but they fought really hard for it.
Good job, girls.

On a side note:

I am not really sure we accomplished our goal of being Christ-like because there was some aggressive behavior that resulted in falls where the girl didn't help her opponent up or apologize to her, and our new coach doesn't really understand the church rules about giving the girls equal playing time for the first 3 quarters, uhhhhh.....but, this is a learning experience for all of us and I pray that God's will be done.

I covet your prayers, my sisters, for wisdom in how to work peaceably with the new coach and also that this will be a ministry effort for the players because we have so many new girls that attend different churches in our area that are on the team.
I pray that we will be different from the other teams and that the difference is Jesus living and loving through them.