Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

Wednesday- December 24 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


Christmas Eve at sea….

Another lazy day at sea just hanging around on deck and relaxing. Of course Caleb spent a lot of time playing video games. But that was fine, it was what he wanted to do.
I took in a game show called the “Marriage Game.” It was funny. After that I stayed for the Christmas show. It was good, and made me get a little more in the Christmas mood. It is hard to think about Christmas when it is 80 degrees outside.
While I was watching shows David was hanging on deck.
We hit the ship gift shop and got some good buys. I got a necklace and 2 bracelets, Caleb and David got a bracelet. I got Madilyn a Mermaid doll and we picked up a few other items.
Tonight at dinner the waiters sang a goodbye song. It was funny. We had 2 really good waiters named David and Gusti. They provided good service and many laughs during the week.

RevoluntianaryLove.TV- The Sequel Week 2

Monday, December 15th, 2008

I was glad to see the amount of items collected for the women’s shelter. Five truck loads of needed items were given to the shelter. The children of the church also collected 50 bags of items for MUST Ministries. The children were so excited to bring there bags to give to others who are in need.

WEEK 2: The topic today was Unselfish Serving. Another topic I needed to hear. Not that I am selfish with my serving, but sometimes I wonder when others will get up and step up to the plate. But you know that is between them and God and I don’t need to worry about what others do I only need to worry about myself.

So Gary presented the 4 A’s of Unselfish Serving. I hope that I remember them correclty.
Assessment- Assessing the need for service
Action- Taking action and serving where needed
Attitude- Having a positive loving attitude while serving
Awesomeness Knowing it is awesome to serve others and to be a blessing to others.

At the end of the service they passed the offering baskets again. This week the cards contained Random Acts of Kindness. Can’t wait to hear what people do with these cards and the reaction that they have.

Next week they will be collecting the annual Christmas offering. I hate to miss the service next week, but we will be having some time as a family relaxing and playing in the sun. However, we will mail our Christmas Offering to the church prior to leaving.

RevolutionaryLove.TV- The Sequel

Monday, December 15th, 2008

“RevolutionaryLove.TV- The Sequel.” Last year Revolution Church did a series called Revolutionary Love. It was great and I am glad that we are revisiting the series.

Week 1: The message today was about Sacrificial Giving. Boy did I need to hear this. David and I had discussed and prayed about what gift we should give to the church for the Christmas offering. After making a decision we felt good about we were dealt a financial blow in the amount of $6000 in attorney fees for Madilyn’s bmom. We had $1700 left in our adoption escrow account, and our attorney sent this to the other attorney prior to Thanksgiving. Once we returned home from our Thanksgiving Break we had a message from the attorney wanting to know when the remaining $4300 would be paid. She wanted her money now. We bit the bullet and sent the rest of the money not really knowing how our fiances would play out for the rest of the year.

After hearing the message on sacrificial giving we decided that the amount of money we had decided to give the church was STILL the amount we need to give. Well we like most people do not just have this kind of money sitting around (especially after spending so much on the adoption). We will be giving sacrificially… meaning we are going to cut out other stuff to make this gift to the church happen. We are going to sacrifice and give to God what we know we need to give. We know God will take our gift and do a great work with it, and we will be blessed by giving.

At the end of the service the offering plates were passed and we each drew a card that contained needs of a local women’s shelter. We drew diapers, toothbrushes and aspirin. I told Caleb that since he had drawn the card out of the offering plate that he should use his own money to help meet the need. He is such a stand up kid. He gets $20 a month, pays $2.00 in tithes leaving him $18 for the month. He decided that he would give $10.00 to help purchase items for the women’s shelter. He could have been selfish and offered less but he gave 1/2 of his monthly allowance to this cause.

Caleb and I went shopping and purchased 2 bags of diapers, 20 adult toothbrushes, 8 children’s toothbrushes and 8 bottles of aspirin. At the checkout the cashier smiled a toothless smile and said, “you must have some headache.” I told her our church was collecting items for the women’s shelter.” She looked like she was about to cry and said, “Thank you, they helped me when no one else would.” WOW…..

Christmas Photo Shoot

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

For the past several years it has become our tradition to create our family Christmas card with a picture of Caleb and Piglet. This year tradition changes, since we could not get Madilyn, Caleb and Piglet to all cooperate at the same time. David took around 75 photos and only got 4 that turned out decent. We had fun taking the pictures.

Pictures

Friday, September 5th, 2008

Last weekend we had professional pictures taken of Caleb and Madilyn. They are due to arrive on Sept. 22. I will post some photos, or a link to where they can be veiwed soon. Both kids smiled and look good. We plan on having a family photo made toward the end of October for the Christmas season.

So check back soon, to see updated pictures.

Vacation Plans

Monday, June 9th, 2008

We have decided to go on a cruise around Christmas time. We have a found a cruise leaving from Mobile, AL. The trip includes stops at Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico. We will still get to spend time with other family members since the ship returns to port early Christmas morning.

David and I got our passports a few years ago, when we went on an anniversary trip. Today I took Caleb to the passport office and applied for his passport. It should arrive in about 4 weeks. He is very excited about going on this trip.