Let the Baking Begin!

Each year around Christmas I begin what my family affectionately calls "The Extravaganza" which is my favorite holiday tradition. I spend weeks going over cookbooks and recipe sites to pick out the cakes and cookies that I will be preparing. Most of the things I bake will be given away as gifts or taken for co-workers to enjoy. My husband enjoys eating it but since he isn't supposed to have sugar I have to closely monitor him. This year I am preparing rum cake, pumpkin pecan cookies, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate caramel dreams, cowboy cookies, cheese biscuits, chocolate rum balls, almond crunch, seven layer cookies and a few others that escape me at the moment. I started last weekend and will continue throughout this week until I finish just in time for my Mom to arrive on the 21st. I am beyond myself with excitement about her visit and am counting the days until she arrives. I just love Christmas! The smells, the emotions, the joy, the happiness and the meaning of the day. What an awsome God we serve! He gave us our Savior and allows us to celebrate His birth each year. I wish everyone the most amazing, joyful and loving Christmas ever and may your traditions bring you as much happiness as mine do.

Psalm 23 (For Work)

Someone sent me this and I thought it was so wonderful I had to share.

The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want

He gives me peace, when chaos is all around

me He gently reminds me to pray and do all

things without murmuring and complaining

He reminds me that he is my source, not my job

He restores my sanity every day and guides my

decisions that I might honor him in all I do.

Even though I face absurd amounts of e mails,

system crashes, unrealistic deadlines, budget

cutbacks, gossiping co workers, discriminating

supervisors and an aging bodythat doesn't cooperate

every morning, I still will not stop - for He is with me!

His presence, His peace, and His power will see me through

He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me

He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens to let me go

His faithfulness and love is much better than any bonus check.

His retirement plan beats every 401k there is!

When all is said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot longer, and for that,

I WILL BLESS HIS HOLY NAME

The Holidays are Officially Upon Us!!!!

Okay I admit it....I am a complete Christmas geek! I love everything about the holidays beginning with Thanksgiving. I love to cook Thanksgiving dinner! Most people dread the thought of an all day cooking excursion but I actually love it. The smells permeating through the house....having family together.....thinking about how blessed we really are and remembering the reason for the day. This year I am thankful for so many things......I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is also my best friend. I am thankful for all my friends, some new, some old, but all of them are precious to me. I am thankful for my small group........we are able to share together, play together, laugh together, cry together and be there for one another. I am thankful for my parents who are both still alive, they have taught me to be the person that I am and my Mother in particular is so precious to me. I am thankful that the Mother I love so much is travelling here from California to spend Christmas with us....I am so excited I can hardly stand it! Soon I will begin my Holiday Baking Extraviganza! This involves me spending two entire weekends doing nothing but holiday baking. I give alot of it out as gifts because I believe giving someone something that is made with your hands means more than something you just go out and buy. I LOVE to bake so I look forward to this event every year. Once the baking is done we will go out and get our tree and decorate the house. We have a HUGE Christmas village that we put up and each year we buy one or two more buildings for it. Pretty soon we are going to have to move to a bigger place just to fit our village! On December 20th my Mom and Stepdad will arrive....what a blessing to be able to spend the week with the people who mean so much to me. I have the whole week planned out already (I'm sure we won't stick to the plan). We are going to do some shopping, check out the new PF Chang's across the street, do alot of cooking and just enjoy being together. I LOVE the holidays and everything it represents. Celebrating the birth of Jesus, spending time with loved ones, realizing how blessed we are and reaching out to help others . Isnt' this what life is supposed to be about? I wish everyone the happiest of holiday seasons...however you celebrate!

Trunk or Treat!!!!!!!!!!

Our AWSOME small group did Trunk or Treat on Wednesday and by God's grace it did not rain and we had tons of kids come out! We gave away ALL our FRC cards and we had a great time doing it. Pirate's were the theme of the night although there were a couple of doctor's in the house and a couple of football fans. Our group pizza maker made us all some really yummy HOMEMADE pizzas and we got sit and catch up with each other. All in all it was a fabulous night and we can only pray that those who received a card and even those that were touched by what we did will come and check out The Domino Effect.

Our Resident Pirate (May I recommend a good dentist?)

Some of the kids enjoying the "pirate ship"

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!

My prayers go out to everyone planning to do a Trunk or Treat celebration tonight. I am sure the weather will cooperate and we will have the awsome outreach that we had hoped for. As I told you yesterday, I am not a Halloween person.......however, the dressed up pets just crack me up. I found a few more pics that made me giggle. I hope they do the same for you! This one doesn't look too happy to be Yoda!

These guys are going bananas!

I don't think I would buy a used car from this guy!

A knight in shining armour!

Happy Halloween Eve!

I'm not a big Halloween fan, okay I said it! Although I like to consider myself creative, I just never got into the whole concept of dressing up once I became an adult. One thing that gives me endless amounts of amusement is people who dress up their pets. I ran across this picture in the newspaper today and I almost fell over laughing. Everyone, I would like you to meet Henry and Smartee....the squirrel hunters!

Enjoy!

REST IN PEACE

I received the letter below in an e mail today. It struck me how sad our society has become and how Godless so many are. It makes me want to work even harder to spread the good news about Jesus and to teach that faith in God and obedience to Him is all we need. He will take care of the rest.

_____________________________

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher f ired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a Band-Aid to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was pro mptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Our AWSOME Small Group

A few weeks ago, my husband and I took the step of joining a small group at Flamingo Road. We were hesistant as we are relatively new to the church and didn't really know anyone too well. We had discussed the possibility of joining and had looked at the listing of groups but had not made the move to actually join. One Friday night I got home from work and had an e mail from a wonderful lady named Lilli. She and her husband were hosting a "couples"small group and they had invited anyone who was not yet part of a group to come over and check it out. I thought this was incredibly brave of them and I admired the fact that they were willing to open their home to people they didn't know just for the sake of helping them to find some people to "do life with". My husband and I were unable to attend that week or the next but when the day did finally come that we were able to join them we were in for the most pleasant surprise!

We arrived to find a house filled with people we did not know except for Lilli and her husband whom we had only met briefly at church. We were welcomed warmly and we took a seat to wee what the evening would be all about. What transpired that night and for each and every Friday night since is nothing short of miraculous! Our group is diverse, we are all different ages, nationalities, some married, some not, some attend Flamingo Road Church, some don't. What we all have in common is that we are all on fire for God and we all want to surround ourselves with other people who feel the same. We have been able to get "naked" with each other and we know that what we say in small group stays in small group. We have all begun to feel like family and have realized that many of us have the same hobbies, ie...camping and golf, and we also have the same struggles. It is somehow comforting to know that there are other couples (and singles) out there who go through the same things we do and yet we all come together at the end of a busy week to share our victories, our pain, and our hope together.

I just want everyone who has never been in a small group to really think about either starting one or joining one. You won't regret it! Life is not easy and having people in your life that understand and are willing to open up and share with you can change everything. I thank God for Lilli and Edwin. Thank you for opening up your home and making such a difference in our lives. God is going to bless you richly for it.

Appreciation

I've been thinking alot lately about how blessed I am. God loves me so much and every day he shows me something else to be thankful for. In the midst of my thoughts, I began to wonder how many others truly appreciate their blessings or do they just take them for granted? Waking up in the morning, smelling your childs hair, looking at a beautiful sunset, holding a brand new puppy......these are the things that we just take for granted but they are some of God's most precious gifts. If each of us really took the time to look at each blessing and truly appreciate it and realize that is was a gift from God we would probably have a much better outlook on life, we would stop feeling sorry for ourselves and we would be happier.

Proverbs 15:15 says "All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil by anxious thoughts, but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast regardless of the circumstances."

Lets all make the decision to have a glad heart and appreciate our blessings!

Do you Show your Feelings?

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 118:29

Today my husband and I found out that someone we know is terminally ill. We don't know how much time he has left, we don't know if he is in pain. All we know is that he is going to die sooner than he expected.

My first thought upon hearing this news was that I cannot by any stretch of the imagination fathom what his wife and children are feeling. I cannot imagine having someone tell me that my husband is sick and there is nothing that can be done.

My second thought was that I wanted to give my husband a big hug and tell him how much I love him.

Do you tell the people in your life how much they mean to you? If you were to die tomorrow would your friends and family truly know how much you loved them and how each and every one of them had touched your life? Today was a wake up call for me. Today I made a promise to myself that everyone in my life who is important to me is going to know it. I cannot take the risk of assuming that I have done a good job of letting my feelings be known. I also made a promise to treat every day that I have with my loved ones as a gift.

God I thank you for your grace, for your love and for your son Jesus. I thank you for the people you have put into my life who have touched me and made my life so much richer. I thank you for giving me a heart that feels love, compassion and pain. Most of all God, I thank you for loving me always and showing me the way when I am lost. Amen.

Each morning I read a page from a book I have in my office called Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer. I thought I would share today's devotion which is based on 2 Timothy 3:16:

"The Bible says that we will reap what we sow. The dividing line between success and failure is doing what God tells us to do. We pray for fruit in our lives, but we don't always want to pray for roots.

If we want our days to go right, we need to do whatever God tells us to do. If we don't walk in obedience, then we can't complain if we wind up in a mess. If we are lonely and God tells us to invite somebody over, but we decide it is too much trouble, then we will stay lonely.

Obedience brings the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Dig deep into God's Word before you walk away from blessings today"

Today, just ask yourself ....are you are truly listening to God and being obedient to Him? As imperfect humans it is easy to become sidetracked with life and we don't always hear Him as clearly as we should. When that happens....just go someplace quiet, breathe, and listen.......

Here goes!

I am officially a blogger! After much procrastination and poo pooing I have finally decided to join the rest of the world and create a blog. I guess part of me wonders why anyone would be in the least bit interested in my thoughts and other useless bits of information that I am likely to post here. However, I have often times found myself reading other people's blogs and found them to be not inly interesting but inspirational so......here goes. Bear with me until I get the hang of this thing.

Today is October 1st....the first day of a very important month. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and for ladies who don't think this is much of a big deal...please read on. Exactly seven years ago on October 1st I had the last of 8 rounds of chemotherapy for breast cancer. I was bald, sick, tired, scared and alone.....or so I thought. What I didn't know at the time was that God was with me every step of the way and through this experience I found my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It was while I was on my knees, violently ill, feeling worse than a human can even imagine and feeling so scared and alone that I heard God's voice loud and clear. He said to me "My daughter, I have chosen you for this journey. Do not be afraid but look up to me and I will carry you through it." My life has never been the same since that day that I realized that sometimes God brings us to our knees so we will look up.

I would encourage all the ladies to take a moment out of their busy lives and make an appointment for a mammogram. It only takes a little bit of time out of your day and will mean so much to everyone who loves you. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Spread the word, and wear a pink ribbon!