We’ve had a full house since a week ago today – in the happy blur of the last 7 days I haven’t had a moment to pop in on the blog, so I thought I’d take a moment to say “hi” this morning and fill you in on all the fun.
(Here, the girls and I are building a gingerbread house, with Heather as the lead architect and designer.)
Our kids and all their stuff are stuffed in every corner of the house, along with Christmas goodies galore, Starbuck’s coffee and latte’s brewing in the DeLonghi, cell phones beeping, laptops on laps, movies and sports and video games playing and massive, tasty meals…beginning with our traditional Italian feast of stuffed manicotti (here’s Seth doing the hard part of filling the shells) 
spaghetti and meatballs, Italian Sausages, Levi’s homemade Caesar salad (it’s a tedious task, but how we love this dressing-you can see he’s busy at it here) 
lamb roast and garlic mashed potatoes, ham, yams and scalloped potatoes and today’s finale’ lunch will consist of turkey and all the ‘trimmings’ as they say.
It’s been a full week (in every way) but such a privilege to have everyone together again. We stole one extra day with those traveling by car due to snow storms predicted in the mountain passes, so today is a bonus! I will be sure to drink it in and grab lots of hugs and try not to cry when we part in the wee hours of the New Year.
Speaking of January 1st, 2010, I’m longing for more of everything God and everything good! I love turning the last page of my 2009 calendar, although I’ll miss this photo of my beautiful red bird in the snow greeting me at my desk each day. Isn’t he just stunning?
My heart is always filled with expectancy and hope as I anticipate all the happy surprises God holds in His hand for the upcoming 12 months. This year our first granddaughter will arrive – life will never be the same. WOW. All of our sons are pursuing various dreams and visions and goals – our firstborn will graduate from college in the summer and that will be a real milestone and time of celebration. Transition is in the air and that’s always an adventure. I’ve got some fun events coming up for parents and some pretty tight writing deadlines to fulfill 
(help me, Jesus!)
I know whatever victories we achieve, without a strong foundation of God’s Word, His Holy Spirit and buckets of grace – it’s pretty meaningless. In Him we truly ‘live and move and have our being’ and ‘our lives are ever hid with Christ in God’. That’s the truth. I want to be filled and ready for whatever tasks the Lord has for me this year. It’s not always easy because these are sober days, filled with uncertainty at many levels in our world, and yet our most certain Rock is Christ the Lord.
At the moment I’m finding myself in Proverbs and Luke. If you’re struggling with consuming large portions of God’s Word, start small with the first few Proverbs. So cleansing, filling and encouraging! Jesus’ words in Luke are like a bath to our lives.
Whatever book of the Bible you prefer to read, just READ and marinate and saturate yourself in it. It is LIFE.
I wish for your new year to be filled with Him, which will be a Happy New Year, indeed.
This is our first grandchild, so you can imagine what fun we’re having and how special every little detail is. The phone rang. Drumroll, please…
Frying up those spicy Italian sausages…
My messy corner where the ‘please-Lord-let-it-be-perfect’ sauce begins!
Gently simmering now with the meatballs and sausage…mmmm! Visions of bolognese dancing in our heads!
But you can feel good about eating when the cook promises never to lick her fingers or double dip a tasting spoon, right?! (No cat hair either, I promise!)
And took a closer look at the pricetag…
GULP. 
Here you can see Scott attacking the keys with a fervor! After entertaining us for almost 2 hours with a diverse menu of tunes and entertaining dialogue, he took time to visit with my sons. They connected about music, speaking a language I don’t know very well! I just love how God kisses our kids’ lives with special treats like this.
Merry Christmas to my boys from the Lord Jesus!
…and afternoon coffee, and evening tea 
. This is a simple, inexpensive tradition you might like to begin. You can find piles of cheery clearance holiday cups just after Christmas and wrap them up in tissue or bubble wrap for next year. (Discount stores carry them even now at super reasonable prices. I picked up a set of 4 for $7.99 this month. )We pull ours out each year along with all the decorations around Thanksgiving and enjoy our festive mugs each morning when we turn on the coffee pot and grind the beans. They go bye-bye along with all the ornaments, etc., right about New Year’s Day.
to do ALL the holiday food shopping at two different stores, God bless ‘em!
Tomorrow they attack the cleaning list! Thank God for teen-agers!
A holiday treat, indeed.
You know you’re a real grown-up girl when you get excited just to take 5 long and uninterrupted minutes to browse their unbelievable cleaning supply aisle. (sick, I know!) Like ‘gourmet treats’ for Mrs. Clean. Every odd- and-end hard-to-find cleaning item and tool all the other stores often don’t carry. I know you know what I’m talkin’ about.
“Don’tcha just love these?!” I asked excitedly.
of course!)
I figured we could rent it when it came out. I was torn because I wanted to be supportive of folks wanting to do a good thing, but after all, theatre tickets are pricey so we’re selective about what we see out as a family. We were kind of wanting to see a festive, holiday film.
