Until we meet again...

Taking a little bloggy break to enjoy the season! See you all after the holidays!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Catching up on my reading...

I have four words for you all. You MUST read this. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.

The Calling...

Lately I've been feeling convicted. Convicted of my attitude. Convicted of my selfishness. Convicted of my tendency to feel pity for myself. Sometimes I become so frustrated with the ordinary tasks of mothering, that I begin to feel like I have no more left to give.

I remember leaving my nursing job in January 2007. The journey of full-time mothering was so fresh and exciting. I felt so blessed to be able to leave the workforce behind and focus my energies on my family, my children. I was inspired, motivated, energized.

Two years later... Still feeling extremely blessed to be at home, but having to really focus to remember that blessing. Recognizing the blessing doesn't come as easy as it once did. It takes more effort. Why? Have I become so wrapped up in the mundane tasks of mothering that my senses have dulled to the extraordinary? Have I trained my mind to "just survive" rather than face my calling with joy and energy?

Refreshment and rejuvenation arise within me some mornings. Some days I face my day with motivation to make it count. Other days, I arise to feel discouraged and bored. Discouraged with the five loads of laundry that accumulated over the weekend. Discouraged because my daughter wakes up and immediately demands my attention. Discouraged because I have to fight with my son to do his studies. Discouraged because I just want some time for me.

Slowly and subtly discontentment creeps in. I begin to resent my lot. I begin to see all the demands on my time as unfair. I itch just to get away, run away. Just so I can think without interruption.

And then I hear the Holy Spirit speaking within me. You are blessed. I love you. My grace and strength are sufficient for you. Sufficient for you to be the mother I desire for you to be. Sufficient for you to react lovingly when your children are cranky. Come to me. Look at my Word and learn from me. I always forgive you. I love you unconditionally. I accept your imperfections and failures. I want to help you. I want to give you grace, wisdom, and strength.

I want to mold you into a woman and mother who will impact the future generations of your family for My name's sake.

I wish that I can say that I always yield to the Holy Spirit. I desire to say that I always stop and listen when I feel prompted to soften my heart and hear what God is speaking to me. Because it is at those moments when I really stop and open my heart to God's words that I succeed as a mother. When I ignore this prompting, I fail.

I'm a work in progress. God's work in my life will never cease as I will never attain perfection. God doesn't expect me to be perfect, but He desires me to yield to His will for my life. Surrendering myself and my desires to His perfect plan for me.

Oh, Lord, thank you for this opportunity to be a mother and a wife. Thank you that Your grace is sufficient for me and Your strength is made perfect in my weakness. Forgive me for my discontentment, my self-pity, my selfishness. Soften my heart so that I yearn for You. Help me to focus on the eternal rather than the temporal. Lord, please mold me into a Godly wife and mother who desires to please You in all that she says and does.

Knee Deep in Ribbon

I've made a big, big mess.

I dug into my ribbon and button stash and made a few bookmarks. I saw these in Family Fun magazine and thought they were so cute.

I'm not sure where these bookmarks will find a home. I know I'm keeping one for myself to replace my highlighter bookmark that I'm currently using. Lily's already called dibs on one of the pink ones.

I found a treasure of vintage buttons in my grandparents' old manual Singer sewing machine, so I used a few of those on these.

These were fun and quick to make. I used hot glue for the buttons and fabric glue to layer the ribbon.

I'm so glad I actually have a "real" bookmark now. I haven't owned one of those since junior high.

I also made a hair band out of a bunch of ribbon scraps. I'm hoping Lily will actually wear this one. She hasn't worn the last barrettes I made since the day she posed for my pics. She's not the type to tolerate anything in her hair. Sigh. That saddens me since I'd really like an excuse to buy one of these cute barrettes from Amanda.

Okay, this is the Singer machine that I "inherited" from my grandparents'. (This is the only pic I have.) Inside these drawers were a slew of treasures - old vintage buttons, needles, wooden spools and needle packages. Well, I cleaned out all of the larger drawers when I first moved it into our house five years ago. However, I never cleaned out the top middle drawer.

I knew there were more buttons in that drawer so I searched its contents today when I was making the bookmarks, and I found this little treasure...

An old wood needle case. The case is marked "The Boye Needle Co. Chicago-New York-San Francisco." I can't believe I didn't see it in there before. I'm going to add it to my little bowl of wooden spools. Yay!

Stay tuned tomorrow. The kids and I did some Christmas crafts today that I will share with you all tomorrow.

Our Advent Calendar

I know that Advent has already started, but I've seen so many bloggers posting about their Advent calendars/countdowns so I wanted to show you all ours.

First, a little background info...

We have chosen to incorporate Santa Claus into our Christmas, but we also have chosen not to make him an important part of Christmas. Rather, we have chosen to focus on Christmas day as being the day of Christ's birth (although we realize that Dec. 25th is not the actual date of Christ's birth but rather just the date that the Romans had chosen to commemorate Christ's birth.)

This has been a difficult and conflicting issue for us as Christian parents. We desire to instill the true meaning of Christmas into our children, but we also want them to experience the magical side of Christmas that we remember experiencing as children.

This being said, we focus our Christmas discussions on Christ rather than Santa. We make it a point not to speak of Santa on a frequent basis. Yes, Santa's name is spoken occassionally, but we do not make it a point to talk about him and his reindeer. We do, however, let the kids watch Christmas cartoons, some of which do portray Santa Claus.

I really believe that this issue is a tough one for many Christian parents. However, I also believe that each family must practice what feels right to them. Pray and then follow your conscience. I will certainly not judge the decisions of other Christian families on how they decide to celebrate the Christmas holiday as I hope others will not judge how we have decided to celebrate.

Well, with all that being said, when I was searching for an Advent countdown, I knew I wanted something that was not secular. I wanted something that counted down to Christ, not Santa. I was thrilled when I found this beauty on Saint Patrick's Guild three years ago. Oh, how perfect it felt for us.

Behind each door is a little figure that has a part in the Christmas story. And guess what's behind the last door? Yes, it's the Christ child.

I wrap the figures in tissue paper. This makes it even more exciting for the kids.

Today we unwrapped the innkeeper.

Hmmm... I wonder who's behind door number 10?

Cookies with tea???

While we did spend the whole day Saturday baking Christmas cookies, I failed to take any pictures of the finished project before I wrapped them up tight and stuck them in the chest freezer (partially so I would quit eating them.)

Well, except for these beauties that my sweet little girl iced for her mommy...

It was nice family bonding time. Ian bored after the gingerbread. I made him stay until the sugar cookies were mixed. And I lost everyone by the time I got to the cream wafers.

Don't you love the manly apron my darling is donning? He's a goofball like that. A sweet, loving, generous goofball. I wouldn't want him any other way. And he uses his manly muscles to mix my gingerbread. Sigh. True love.

And I just have to mention that I have been without a microwave now for over a week. And I just found out today that it will be another week before the part comes in, a few days to actually replace the magnatron (sounds like a Transformer name), and then however many days it takes to ship it back.

Can I just say how much I miss my microwave? I didn't realize how convenient a microwave really was until mine went bye-bye. Gone are my days of tossing a plate full of leftovers into the microwave for a couple of minutes. Now I must warm everything up in the oven or on the stovetop. And did you know that my oven takes 10 minutes just to preheat?

Well, I am trying to be a trooper about it. After all, women lived without microwaves for years and they survived. So can I. Plus, for these three short weeks I will not be sending out any of those scary microwave rays or whatever a microwave emits. And that makes me feel better about my microwaveless situation.

Oh, one more thing before I end. I found a new love.

I LOVE this tea. Blackberry Vanilla black tea by Fortunes. So absolutely yummy. It's my afternoon and evening treat. I just love cradling a warm cup of this and sitting in my cozy recliner while I sip this stuff. In fact, that's what I'm off to do right now. Blackberry vanilla tea and a book. Doesn't get much better than that.

Sugar & Spice...

This is how I'm planning on spending this weekend...

Gotta get the freezer stocked!

Christmas Giveaways!

My friend Cathy over at Tolentreasures is hosting her very first giveaway. Head on over and leave a comment to be entered to win one of these two adorable Christmas giveaway packages...

Then you need to head over to enter to win this adorable cupcake Christmas folk art painting done by folk artist Catherine Holman. How cute is this?!

Good luck!

I've got that lovin' feeling...

I am lovin' this book. It was a recommended reading at the Weekend to Remember. So glad I purchased it. A Mother's Heart by Jean Fleming.

I just wanted to share a paragraph I found to be very inspiring and motivating to me as a mother...

"The aspect of mothering that excites me most is knowing I am making a permanent difference in my children's lives. I am a woman of influence. I impart values, stimulate creativity, develop compassion, modify weaknesses, and nurture strengths. I can open life up to another individual. And I can open an individual up to life."

Wow. Does that impact anyone else like it did me? I have the God-given power to impact my children's lives in a HUGE way. Am I feeling a little pressure over this? Yeah. Sure. But, wow, as I really give this mothering thing an effort and see it as the blessing and treasure that it is, I can really make a difference in the way my children develop and flourish in every aspect of their lives.

Here's another thing I'm lovin' right now. Unfortunately, my waist is not lovin' me for lovin' this so much.

This strange looking stuff is called "Muddy Buddies." Don't let its simplistic, disheveled outward appearance deceive you. This stuff tastes great. My taste buds have developed an addiction of sorts to this stuff.

I found the recipe on the chex.com website. You can look at it, but I warn you that if you like chocolate and peanut butter (or in our house, soy butter) and have a certain weakness for the two combined, you may want to think twice before you dive in. You will never be able to go back. Maybe I'm just strange. I know this is no double fudge/peanut butter dream cake. I know it's not fancy schmancy. But it's yummy. And it's coated in powdered sugar.

Thank goodness we just finished the last of it. Yes, this was my mid-morning snack. I know. Tsk-tsk. Shame on you, Amber. But at least it's now gone, and I will not be making this again as I now realize that I am unable to resist this little chocolatey goodness. But if any of you make this and want to send a little baggie full my way, I will accept it with open arms.

'O Christmas Tree!