A Fresh Start

I just want to say a quick word to any of you who might be around today, with it being New Year's Eve and all. I've been thinking of how excited I am about the new year. It feels like a new beginning, a fresh start. I can put last year's troubles, problems and failures behind me and move on with expectation and determination into a new year.

But what's interesting to me is that as a Christian, I don't just get a fresh start once a year or once a month or once a week. It's every day. Well, every moment really, but for fluidity, let's say every day.

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His
compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore I will hope in Him. Lamentations 3:22-24

I often feel like a failure. I make mistakes often. I fall on my face, say things I regret, and hurt others. It would be so easy to wallow in that self loathing, frustration and failure because the enemy of my soul likes to remind me of it often. He is the accuser of the brethren.

Yet God says that we can have a fresh start. Not just once in our lifetimes at our salvation "moment." Not just once a year. But every day. Every day I can choose to move on from my past failures. Every day I can begin with a fresh slate. Every moment of every day I can repent and ask God for His forgiveness and every day, because of His great mercy and faithfulness I can have a fresh start. God's goodness brings tears to my eyes. That God could look at someone as small, insignificant and filled with self doubt and failures as I am and declare that He delights in me.

May you hve a very blessed new year and remember that God would like to give you a very precious gift: a fresh start.

While You Were Sleeping

We have this CD and I love listening to this song. If you're reading this in an email or reader and you can't see the video, you can click through to see it on the blog here.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

If you're reading this in an email or reader and you can't see the video, you can click through to see it on the blog here.

Silver Bells

If you're reading this in an email or reader and you can't see the video, you can click through to see it on the blog here.

Mom Monday: Why I Don't Tell My Daughter Santa is Coming

Photo by jdanvers

My husband and I don't really follow many of the "traditional" American Christmas celebrations. Some of our reasons are "religious" and some are not. We don't do a lot of decorating simply because we don't feel like it. We don't do a lot of gift buying and giving (we mostly make them) because we don't have a lot of money.

One of the most controversial (apparently) is that we don't tell our kids that on Christmas Eve Santa is coming down an imaginary chimney and leaving a bunch of loot for them that the elves at his workshop in the North Pole made for them.

Believe me, I'm not condemning anyone who feels at peace before God to tell their kids about Santa. I feel that I cannot because of personal convictions. I've always tried to be as truthful with my children as possible. I want them to understand for an early age that honesty is very important and that they can expect honesty from me as well. I want them to trust me and see an example of honesty in my life. I don't always succeed perfectly in this, but it is my goal.

I've felt for a long time that having my children believe in Santa would be dishonest. Whenever we come across Santa, I try to make it clear to my 3 year old that he is just "pretend." I'm not going to try sheltering my children from Santa altogether or act like Santa is evil, because I don't think it is. I feel that it is a harmless societal tradition that actually started out because of a great man with a giving spirit. I do plan to teach my daughter about Saint Nicolas as a part of history when she's old enough to understand.

I don't want my children to be crushed and heart broken when they finally realize that Santa is not real. I think children are so crushed because their parents (who they trust completely) told them Santa was real. I just don't feel comfortable leading my children into that kind of falsehood.

Don't think that if you tell your children about Santa that I think you're a horrible parent. I just want to encourage those of you who are in the same boat as me. I also want to encourage those of you who do tell your kids about Santa to have a little understanding towards those parents who don't. My husband and I are constantly dealing with questions and accusations that we are depriving our children of an important part of childhood.

When it comes to traditions and things like this where there is no clear scripture on what to do, please, give each other some grace and accept the personal convictions of others without attacking them. Fighting amongst ourselves is definitely not the way to love each other with brotherly love.

I hope you have a wonderfully blessed Christmas season whether you tell your children about Santa or not! Just out of curiosity, do/did you tell your kids about Santa? Why or why not and have you had to defend yourself in your decision?

Gratituesday: 3rd Brithday and Cake Recipe!

I can hardly believe my baby is already 3 now!! I'm so thankful for her and definitely believe that she is a blessing. Parenting can be hard at times (ok, most of the time), but I'm so thankful for the joy and love she fills our lives with. She teaches me so much! We had a birthday party for her last week and for those of you who were wondering, here's how I made her cake.

Dora in the Clouds
I made Dora's face by following the cake recipe and instructions on Nick Jr. I changed a few things, but basically followed the guidelines. I didn't use paste food coloring for her face color. I just mixed the vanilla frosting with some of the chocolate frosting and hot chocolate mix. LoL. I also didn't pipe in her hair. I just smeared it on with a knife and then outlined parts with the light brown face frosting.

The white stuff I made dairy free for a few people who were coming. It was chocolate mini cupcakes frosted with White Mountain frosting (I didn't use the salt or cream of tartar). We just smeared the frosting all over them, which made them blend in nicely. The mini cupcakes were just a chocolate cake recipe I found in my Betty Crocker Cookbook. If you have any questions about the cake, feel free to ask!

Staycation 2010

Photo by Alicia Nijdam

There's nothing quite like a nice, quiet, peaceful weekend away. Especially if you can manage to make it a couple's only weekend. But with times being tough it can be difficult to arrange a weekend away and if you have small children it may seem like a far off distant fantasy. Don't dispair!

Your dream weekend may not be as far off as you think! My husband and I have very tight finances and two small children (3 and 1) but with some creativity we managed to pull off a very lovely weekend without the kids and without spending a ton of money.

Ditch the kids. Sounds mean, I know, but I firmly believe (from my own experience) that every couple needs some time alone together to recharge. Kids benefit from seeing their parents loving each other and spending time alone together is one of the best ways to reconnect and enjoy each other. A few hours, a night, a weekend, whatever. Find a way for at least some time to remember why you fell in love and hopefully rekindle some of the passion from those early days. :)

My husband and I are lucky enough to have family nearby. Our girls spent 2 nights with Grandma and Grandpa (which they loved!) and it only cost us one 45 minute trip to pick them up. Not everyone has family nearby, but I'm sure if you put your mind to it you can come up with a great idea. Some families trade off babysitting. Or maybe all the kids could be in camp at the same time. :)

We stayed at our own Bed and Breakfast. Sure, it was a little more work, but it was cozy, homey and just right! We woke up when we wanted, watched movies when we wanted, played games whenever we wanted and just plain did what ever we wanted! We didn't have to worry about check out times, extra fees and getting lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

We went out to eat with coupons. Here's where we choose to splurge. We decided to hit some wonderful restaurants we rarely get to go to (like a fun Japanese steakhouse) and we even made one fancy, very kid unfriendly meal at home, Shrimp Scampi Linguine. It was fabulous and definitely worth it. We had store bought ice cream while we watched a free rental movie and had other fun treats.

We visited local attractions. We live very close to Marketplace and Flea Market. For fun, we went shopping and bargain hunting after one of our lunches out. We ended up not buying anything, but it was fun just to be out together, walking and enjoying experiencing things together as a couple. Is there something in your town that you can never do with the kids? Maybe even going to a real movie theater to see a non-kid movie?

All in all, we probably spent around $100 or less for a 2 day, 2 night couple's getaway. That's including gas for the car, food money and other small expenses. It was a very memorable "trip" and made me appreciate being with my husband again. I was actually recharged and ready to be the best Mommy I could be again. I began to miss my girls even! What a fine thing!

Check out Frugal Friday for other great frugal tips and Finer Things Friday for other wonderful things!

Hooray for Daddies!

If you have a daddy in your life today, you should be very thankful and take the time to tell them just how special they are to you! It's so easy to take it for granted, but a present and loving father in today's world is a very special thing indeed. Happy Father's Day all you daddies, grand-daddies, great grand-daddies and soon to be's!!

What to do?

Hmmm.... As I mentioned yesterday, my baby is turning 1 this month. Her party is one week from today and I still haven't decided what kind of cake to make her. (If you're interested, you can see the two cakes I've made for my other daughter so far... )

Oh, what to do, what to do. I've put forth so much effort before that I just wouldn't feel right not coming up with something cute for my second daughter. I'm throwing around the idea of doing something Strawberry Shortcake themed since she loves that movie. She is going to dig into her cake, I think, unlike my first daughter who wouldn't touch it. They're so different. It's very funny.

Anyway... got any ideas or links for me? I'm getting tired of searching and might just wing it. But I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Mothers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/araswami/ / CC BY 2.0

Happy Mother's Day all you mothers, grandmothers and even great grandmothers! Never let anyone make you feel that being a Mother is not a worthy calling. Never believe that it is below your abilities. And never forget that God choose YOU to be the Mother for your specific children. We may not be perfect, but we were perfectly chosen by a loving God who will give us the grace to fulfill our roles if only humble ourselves, ask and believe! May God bless you and answer your requests above and beyond your expectations!

Share Yourself Saturday: Cooking

I love to cook. I love to eat the things I cook. I love to feed others. I love to cook! The year I got married, I decided I was going to cook the turkey we had for Easter dinner and I've been doing it since. I think this was our 4th celebration at our house and it was so much fun!

Usually, I over-do it. I usually want to make a bunch of fancy stuff to impress everyone or something like that. :) But this year, I kept it really simple (since I have two kids and all) and I was surprised at how great it was. I was sitting there, with dinner almost finished, shocked at how unstressed out I was. Normally when I cook the Easter dinner, I'm running around all day cooking, cleaning and stressing out. What a huge difference keeping it simple made!


And even though I didn't do anything really fancy, we had a great meal, great fellowship and over all a great day. Lesson learned. Don't stress out over making a huge, perfect, impressive meal. Just make good food and have good family and friends over. It'll be a day worth remembering!

Works for Me Wednesday: The Bunny House

I usually cook dinner every year at my house for Easter. It's a tradition I started in my first year of marriage and I love it. I was in Aldi's the week before Easter and saw a kit to build and decorate a bunny house for $7. It looked so cute and I immediately thought it'd be a great way for my daughter to stay busy while I cooked and cleaned.




I was right. She loved helping her Daddy decorate the bunny house. Sure, it wasn't the most beautiful work of art, but it made a great centerpiece at dinner and the family loved it! It was a nice touch and worked for me to keep her little hands busy while Mommy was busy!! I'm sure there's plenty of similar projects for kids at other holidays or you could make your own. Maybe it could help your little ones too!

Worthy is the Lamb

If you can't see the video, you can click through to the blog to see it here.

Have a wonderful day filled with His love, joy and peace!

Share Yourself Saturday: Valentine's Day

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/ / CC BY 2.0

This year, for Valentine's Day, we're keeping it very simple. We were going to have someone watch the girls, but it didn't work out this year.

I plan on making a yummy dinner from a recipe I haven't tries yet. It's called Indonesian Peanut Chicken and it sounds amazing! I'll have to let you know if it is as good as it sounds. I'll probably serve it with a 2 day old french bread loaf my husband got for free from work. The best way I've found to eat old french bread is to slice it, microwave it a few seconds until it is warm and soft and use real butter on it. Fabulous!

I haven't decided on a dessert yet, because we were planning on going out for dessert, but I'll probably choose something with chocolate and maybe I'll start my search in All Recipes or Kraft Foods and Family (their magazines are amazing).

We'll probably rent a free Redbox movie. I'll probably demand a chick flick that's also guy compatible. Life as Mom has a list about chick flicks guys like too. I would like to add a few that my husband tolerates as well. Although, I'll readily admit, my husband is pretty easy to talk into watching a movie with me!

The Princess Bride

We both think this movie is cheesy, which is kind of the point of it, and it's hilarious! A real classic.

Fireproof

I can't stress highly enough what an excellent movie this is.

While You Were Sleeping
A very cute and funny movie.

I'm also lucky enough to have a husband that will watch (and actually enjoy) my Jane Austin and similar classic movies with me. We love Pride and Prejudice (seriously, the Collin Firth version is the only one I'll watch), Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Bleak House and Little Dorrit. I'm very specific in which versions of these I'll watch, especially because there's usually 3 or 4 different versions and most of them butcher it!

LoL. My husband has the theory that all chick flicks are the same. Guy meets girl. Guy or girl realizes the one they're with is all wrong for them. Guy and girl have some problem, work it out and leave their previous loves to be with each other. The end. :)

What are you planning on doing with your Valentine's Day? Share with us!

Wednesday Wifehood: Valentine's Edition

Some people love it and some hate it. But whether you love it or hate, Valentine's Day is still February 14th every year (in America) and it deserves some thought. I agree, Valentine's Day is primarily a Hallmark Day that tries to commercialize love. But it doesn't have to be. Rather, we can use all the hype to help us to remember to appreciate our husbands and those we love.

We shouldn't need a hyped up day to show love. I fully agree. But tell me, on a day to day basis, how are you doing with appreciating your husband? It's very easy in the flow and bustle of life to forget to stop and remember why you love your husband, especially when you have small children and/or are having struggles in life. I know I'm guilty!

I see toothpaste in the sink and I get irritated. My husband often works 7AM to 7PM and I get lonely. When he is home he actually has the *gull* to want to relax and I get frustrated. I often do almost everything around here with the cleaning and children and start to feel unappreciated. It's so very easy for all this to add up and steal my joy from my marriage.

It's a good thing to be married. The Bible even says so. :) That doesn't make it easy. So, once a year, America has a commercialized holiday about love. Once a year, they also have a commercialized holiday in December, but that doesn't stop me from using it to remind myself and others about Christ's love. So I'm also going to use this holiday in February to remind myself of the reasons I love and admire my husband.

I will choose to celebrate my marriage, even when it's hard. I hope to do so more than once a year, but for now I'll focus on the opportunity that's been created by the world. I use it to remember that I love how practical my husband is. I love how wise and honest he is. I love what a great leader he is. I hope to find ways, in the next week or so, to celebrate and thank him for all these ways that I love him, because I don't do it enough!

Do you have some encouraging thoughts on wifehood this week? Link up or leave a comment and share with us!

My Favorite Christmas Gift!

No, not he baby. :) A digital camera!! I'm so excited to finally be able to take and share nice photos. I've been using a 35 mm camera I've had since I was a senior in high school. My mom was so wonderful as to bless us with an awesome camera and I've been going to town trying it out! So, I just wanted warn you that you're going to be seeing a lot more pictures of us and the stuff we do and I'll be better able to share pictures with some of my explanations of things.

On that note.... we finally got a big snowstorm! I love snow!



The night it started coming down, my husband and I, our good friend Michelle and the couple from Iran that live next to us all ran outside and played like kids in the snow. We had a good old fashioned snowball fight and had a snowball throwing contest..... at 11:30 at night! :) Good times, good memories, great pictures.

Hope your Christmas was joyous and blessed!

Joy to the World!!

Merry Christmas to you all! Go be with your family!



If you can't see this video, you can see the video here.

O' Holy Night

If you're reading this in an email or reader and can't see the video, you can click through to see it here.

Worthy is the Lamb

If you can't see the video, you can click through to the blog to see it here.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Sorry, but this cracked me up and I just had to share it!! (Maybe it's just too late at night and I think everything is funny!) If you can't see the video, you can click through to the blog to see it here.