A Few Holiday Favorites

Thanksgiving is next week!  I just love this time of year.  Right now,  my kitchen is a mess and we are making some goodies for our neighbors.  I wanted to share this free printable again for anyone who wants to use it!

Just right click on either image above and then save to your computer! 

Even though I don't keep up with my blog as much anymore,  I have two posts from the past two years get quite a lot of hits and visitors each day from Pinterest.  It's so fun!  I wanted to reshare here, in case you missed them.

A few years ago, I saw a post on Pinterest about the Minivan Express.  I went to that site and printed out the tickets and we started a family tradition of going around looking at lights at Christmas.  It is so fun.  I posted about it that year, and the post has seriously gone viral on Pinterest.  That post has gotten over 35,000 hits/views.  That is so crazy to me.  You can click on the link below to read more about it and find the link to the original post I read that has tickets you can download and print.  My kids seriously look forward to this tradition every year!

 http://miraclemama.blogspot.com/2011/12/making-memories.html

Last year, after being frustrated with most advent devotions and calendars,  I decided to make my own advent calendar and I am happy to report that is was a great success!!!  Abigail has already asked if we are going to do it again this year.  I thought I would go ahead and share so that if you want to throw this together, you will have time to get your supplies before December 1.

 http://miraclemama.blogspot.com/2012/11/diy-advent-calendar-with-easy-devotions.html

What a Hoot!

We had a very fun 5th birthday party for Abigail last weekend! 

I had this cute outfit that was handed down to us and decided to just use it as the inspiration for her party. 

 

Our neighborhood has a new pavilion on one of the open green spaces and I was so excited to be able to use it!

I didn't have to do a ton of decorating and I'm to the point now where I have so much stuff to reuse for all my parties:).  That just makes it more fun and easy! 

We borrowed a bouncy house that was of course the hit of the party. 

I had a table set up with crafts 

{owl magnets, owl tattoos, owl masks, and owl coloring sheets}

 And of course a fun food table as well

 The cake was from a local bakery and I made the rest

 {cookie acorns, grapes, and little fall chex mix bowls}

The favors were big lollipops from Oriental Trading with a felt owl sticker stuck on top

{found those at Target in their fall section of stuff...was so excited}

 She had such a fun time at her party and was so excited that a lot of her little friends from school came.  Abigail also loved having my parents and Aunt Jenny, Uncle Buddy, and two of her cousins there!  Jeff's parents were sad to miss it, but his dad was recovering from a surgery.  Anyway, we had so much fun celebrating our 5 year old!  So thankful that we have such a wonderful, beautiful place in our neighborhood to have parties at!!! Makes my life easier!  

Intentional in Asking Hard Questions

I was clearly not up to the 31 day challenge in October!  I just didn't follow through like I thought I would.  I truly have enjoyed thinking about how to be more intentional this past month and I think the Lord has really taught me some things.  It would be cool for me to have some sort of focus each month like this, but reality is that probably won't happen.  Life happens.  At the end of October, Jeff happened to be out of town all week, the baby got RSV, and then fell at the doctor and had to get glue stitches cause she busted her chin open:(.   It was a tough week, but God's grace was enough and we made it through all a little tougher and dependent on Him! Then we had two birthdays and halloween, and well all the posts in my head on intentional living just never got written.  So, I really want to intermittently have a post on this topic so that I can finish some of my thoughts and share what I've learned about some of the things I didn't get to talk about. 

A lot of what I've written about last month is a reflection of what I've been learning in Philippians.  Ive been reading and studying on my own, but I've also been a part of a Bible Study on it.  It's a video series by Matt Chandler and I can't recommend it enough!  It has been sooooo good!

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I PRESS ON to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own."  Philippians 3:12

The end of the 3rd chapter of Philippians is so convicting to see how serious Paul is about his faith.  To see how serious he takes following Jesus...because of the grace He has been extended.  Paul encourages us to pursue Christ like him.   His basic point is that no one gets godliness by stumbling upon it.  Matt Chander adds..."How do you beat sin? Pressing into Jesus."  We forget what is behind.  We strain, press, pursue, go...towards JESUS.  

Chandler challenged us to ask ourselves some important questions..

1. What does it look like for me to strive, toil, press on for/to Jesus?

2.  HOW am I going to do that?

3. WHEN am I going to do it? 

If I don't answer these questions and do something about it, then really my walk with the Lord is more of a hobby.  I don't want to run this race aimlessly.  I want to do what 1 Corinthians 9:24 says and run hard towards the prize.  I don't want to become a believer who is just playing silly games of acting like a Christian but not really being serious about Jesus.  Giving lip service, but my life not really looking any different.  1 Timothy 4:7-10 says:

"Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; ⁸ for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ⁹ The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. ¹⁰ For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe."

If I do not ask myself the hard questions and make a plan for pursuing after Jesus, then I am basically just playing silly games/myths.  Thankful for victory, power, and grace for each new day as I depend on the Spirit to help me pursue Jesus in real tangible ways so that I may run this race well. 

The victory of yesterday was given to us by the GRACE of yesterday.  The victory of today will be given to you by the GRACE of today.  Matt Chandler 

Five Years With Abigail Marie!

November 6 , 2008 

We chose Abigail's name from the Bible (just like all our kids) because it means
"my father's joy" or "source of joy."
She was our joy after the mourning (of miscarriage) and Abigail sure has given us such joy every day and I am so thankful God chose me to be her mama!

Of Abigail, the Bible records: "she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance" (1 Sam. 25:3).  Click HERE to go to a site that gives a good summary of Abigail's story in the Bible.  Or read the entire story in 1 Samuel 25.  

We truly do pray for our own sweet Abigail that she would grow to be a woman of strength and integrity who is a source of great joy to those around her.  Also, that she would be a woman of good understanding...a wise woman who follows hard after her Lord.  I can see already a tendency towards pride because she is generally a very good obedient child.  We pray that she would come to know the saving grace of Jesus very soon and that she would always realize the only good in her comes from Him!

 One Year Old {first birthday party}

Two Years Old {chick fil a cow party}

Three Years Old {colorful party}

Four Years Old {pajama party}

AND FIVE YEARS OLD!!!!

{owl outdoor party} 

will post more on this soon

 

***I'm a little embarrassed at how horrible I looked in years 1-4.  No more my friends, no more!

Anyway, my sweet Abigail continues to just be such a joy. 
I read back through the last few birthday posts I wrote about her, and much is the same...
-she loves to change clothes (a lot) and sometimes she likes to put on Samuel's old clothes
-she loves to drive her sister crazy
-she is cuddly and sweet
-she is smart
 -she loves her "boy" friends
-her best friend is Sadie
-she loves to play with dolls and princesses but also has a bit of tomboy in her
-she loves to lay around (and watch tv)...definitely my least active child (thank goodness I got one)
-she is generally obedient and compliant (again...thank goodness for 1 out of 4)


Happy Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!!! 

Halloween Festivities

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Even though it rained, we still managed to have a fun halloween with the kids and in our neighborhood!  Enjoy the pics...

We did carve another pumpkin the night before Halloween.  Daddy Jeff did an amazing job!  His OCD came out with this one and he did a very hard design nearly perfect!