Thoughts from the Purpose of Christmas and of course other random thoughts

THE PURPOSE OF CHRISTMAS…

Have you ever read the entire Serenity Prayer? …I don’t think I had….

God, Grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change ; The courage, to change the things I can; And the wisdom, to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world As it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right If I surrender to His Will; So that I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with Him Forever and ever in the next.
Reinhold Niebuhr


THOUGHTS ON THE RICK WARREN BOOK (The Purpose of Christmas) I’VE READ THIS MONTH THAT REALLY MOVED ME…
What are you most thankful to God for this year?
What gift will you give Jesus for his birthday?

--Am I devoting my life to living for significance? Everyone lives life at three levels: survival, success, and significance.

--justified means “just as if I never sinned” WOW!

--Salvation means FREEDOM—God did not intend for us to live independently of him and try to “work things out” on our own…He allows us problems so that we can depend on him…

“actually he had the solution to your problem in mind long before you even knew it was a problem. He’s been waiting for you to stop trying and start trusting.”

--The more your pray, the less you panic.

--The more your worship, the less you worry. ..which reminds me of when I asked the kids at Thanksgiving how we can be thankful to God and Jeb's answer: "worship" --yes, Foothills Community Church, worship!

--Blessed are the peacemakers--peace has to be MADE...you can love it, need it, want it, be peaceable...but to be a peacemaker that involves WORK.

--forgiving and trusting are two different things: forgiveness should be instant and unconditional while building back trust takes a long time and much work...

Salvation is freedom from the expectations of others—“The fear of human opinion disables.”

Love liberates. GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn't have perfect love.
When Jesus met people his first words were usually…”what do you want me to do for you?”

Christmas should be a CELEBRATION!! Your capacity for enjoyment is evidence of God’s love for you …The Bible says that God “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

New International Version (©1984)
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Gotta love the Message version of the scripture...
Galatians 5:19 (The Message)

19-21 " It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom."

In other news:

Caleb is eating that toothpaste in his bathroom...disgusting...I told him it would hurt his tummy and he replied, "it's nice."

Then, while I was sweeping the kitchen just now he told me that he wanted some "pencils that you can eat."...took me a minute...pretzels.


We had a blast caroling with friends. Caleb ran up front and center for most houses and looked just adorable standing there and attempting to sing. Made my heart so happy!

When Santa arrived the kids were spellbound. Seeing their faces as he handed out the gifts was toooooo cute!

Caleb was recently wrapped up in a blanket in our living room when he announced ...."look I am baby Jesus!"

We also had a fun cook out with friends recently...the men/cavemen enjoyed making fire with sticks (notice Caleb was right in the thick of it), the gals enjoyed chatting and laughing, we all enjoyed smores, and all the kids enjoyed wrestling and wii-ing when the weather outside was too "frightful"!

Ollis Strikes Again...

Ollis Strikes Again...

Caleb and Jeb have discovered the movie "Old Yeller" and while Jeb likes it...Caleb is mildly obsessed with it. He embodies the character of Ollis with all his ideas and shenanigans he gets into around the farm. He is an independent spirit and a free-thinker for sure!

Today I thought that since it was so frigid and windy and Cay wanted to "play outside", "let Sarah in", and "ride my bike" that I thought I would back out the van and let them play in the garage while I cook supper. Oh boy! I went out there once and Ollis had her tucked in her bed again.(He recently took Sarah to his room and put her "night -night" by force. I busted her out.)Then, I went back out and he had come up with his solution to me not letting Sarah in b/c she stunk. He had that poor dog in the sink in ice cold water lathered up with hand soap. Sadly, she was just sitting there shivering...I took her and cleaned her and dried her off. She is now clean and smelling like Bath and Body.

This boy has dug up plants, been lost on the farm, befriended a rooster, pushes around Great Pyrenees dogs three times his size and goats with giant horns as well, rides horses alone (or desires to), and is obsessed with mastering my salad spinner...I just never know what he will be into next. Most of our doors have his "signature" on them and if he gets near scissors--watch out! He loves guns, "buns" dogs, and tools and has announced that he wants a "real tractor" and "chicks" for his next birthday. He prays every night "thank you Dod for de shop." He thinks that the shop is a wonderland. He has strong opinons about WHO he likes and dislikes and he is often up before 6am wreaking havoc around our home!

This is sticky. Kyler's new pet...and Ollis can't quite figure out if he likes reptiles.

Jeb is six now and I can't believe how kind, compassionate, smart, loving, and snuggly he is! I am also so proud that he has asked Jesus to come into his life. We are praying about when to do a Baptism b/c we want him to remember it and he HATES for people to look at him! He is a walking Bible encyclopedia and I just hope that the rest of his life he can apply all the wisdom from God's word like he already is. Jeb--you are our dream come true--we adore you.

Thanksgiving Adventure

We love to get outdoors and make a memories hiking, biking, discovering new places, and finding waterfalls each season. We also went out to celebrate the day that J asked me to marry him! I am so very THANKFUL that he did! There has not been a day in eleven years when I have regret my decision to say yes. We had a good day at this lake-side state park with a fish hatchery and fishing ponds for kids.

Funny Caleb stories...Visiting Dolly...John Deere Boys

We had a great trip to Dollywood to see the Christmas lights, ride the train, all the kiddie rides and see Santa. Dolly had a cute parade and Jeb rode his first roller coaster! The Blazing Fury had him with eyes wide open! I was proud that he was so brave still he didn't really want to go and get back in line-ha! Dolly does a great job putting Jesus back into Christmas and we saw some shows about the REAL reason for the season. We had fun with Nana Mac and Papa D getting geared up for the holiday season.

I had a good laugh when my two-year-old described his hiding place where I could not find him and it involved 2 locked doors and me picking the locks--"it was amazing momma."

Recently, we went to a local nursery and Caleb had eaten a sucker and I looked up and he was "smoking" the sucker stick. Now, it would not have been hilarious has he not held the stick between his tiny little lips and blown fake smoke out the side of his mouth like a real smoker!!!! I looked at him and he said, "What?" and proceeded to take it out and hold it between his finger and blow smoke out...YIKES>..we don't smoke, our family does not smoke...it must have been what he took in at Dollywood last Saturday--who knew he was being entertained by the smokers? I promptly took the cig/stick.

Caleb should still be a red-head I think...he still has the temper to go with it. Today at Blockbuster Caleb was on one side looking at a picture and I moved to the other side to find the M's and he announced...Mama...and despite me saying, "yes, I am right here..." He shouts out so angrily..."Mama YOU LOST ME."

He loves to make up silly things like blabbering non-sense words to songs that he does not know--he still loves music!

He loves to start goofy things like today..."beef".."beef cake" "beefaroni"...he just keeps repeating back to me calling me those things and dying laughing...he is so silly and delightful.

We have had picnic lunches about 6/10 days now and it is so fun!

We were walking in Wal-Mart and we got close to a man in boots/hat and he yells, "look momma, he's a real cowboy." As the man passed me I said, Yes, he's a real cowboy. I know that man was proud of himself. We have been loving reading Cowboy Small recently.

These boys love John Deere stuff. They were proudly posing for me in the backyard for these shots since they were all decked out! Jeb wants to wear his boots everyday and Caleb says his future career is "riding a tractor. working on a skid steer."

Cay had trouble with the time change...yuck...we have been up so stinking early. He can watch an entire "Old Yeller" viewing while I even have time to sometimes cook supper and start laundry BEFORE we take Jeb to school--so depressing. I hate winter and just about everything that comes with it--including the darkness. Oh the darkness. ..it really cramps our families outdoor style.

Still working on trusting God...saw these quotes recently...

You have trusted Him in a few things, and He has not failed you. Trust Him now for everything, and see if He does not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever have asked or thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power, that will work in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed will. You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of it?

What is needed for happy effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord's hand, and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, "Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me," and then arise from your knees, and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together.

Fun with visitors...and a favorite fall recipe...

We have had lots of guests here on the homestead lately and it has been so fun!

We had our friends' kids here one day while they were having their THIRD cutie and we had fun playing with them on the farm. I find that it doesn't matter how many times we bring city slickers out there they still love petting the goats and chasing chickens with the boys! You can see them petting Elvis and helping us doctor Bella during their visit.


On one day you can see that I discovered that my two-year-old had a callous from all the "work" that he does. They like to dig, hoe, look for worms, weedeat, mow the grass, play in the woods in general and yes, he has a real callous. I could not help but laugh when he showed me his boo-boo. The other set of hands are the tiniest, cutest little hands I've seen lately and I had to paint the little perfect nails my fav color--purple!






We have been letting Sara in the lounge on the couch since it has become colder. The boys think it is so fun to snuggle with her and read books on the couch. The first night we did it we watched "Old Yeller" and Sara was just as interested as the boys. She was barking and growling at Old Yeller... it was comical.


When we play on the goat playgrounds Sherman thinks he is one of the kids. It is so funny how he climbs around with them.


Sgt is a ladies man. Chelsea just giggled when he would try to kiss her on the cheek. Some kids are scared if these big, guardian dogs (and they can be scary at first), but they are really teddy bears when it comes to humans!



























One of my favorite recipes: I don't know why I only get to cooking granola in the winter, but every winter I think about it. I made a batch when my family was over recently and it was going fast! I thought I'd share!

Granola from Becky B, and other lovely Middle MO friends!

8 c. oats, 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp salt, 1 cup brown sugar…those are the basics but I put more or less depending on my mood…
Next you can add if you want to…coconut, your favorite nuts ( I add peanuts/cashews/pecans), nutmeg (a little), and 8c. rice crispies…but if you do use rice you might want to add another cup of br. Sugar…

Then, add wet stuff: 1 cup oil (or more if you want it to crunch well), 1 c. water (or more if you use rice crispies) …
Mix well. Spread in a shallow cookie sheet (or two) and bake on 300 for 45 mins or 225 for 2 hours or so…I have done it both ways—just check it now and again until it is as crunchy as you’d like it to be!