Picture Perfect Christmas

Preconceived notions about the holidays . . . we all have them. The perfect tree. The perfect house. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Yada, yada, yada . . . yeah right.

It's not a secret that I'm a bit high strung, and Christmastime, in particular, has the ability to induce a level of anxiety in me that no other holiday does. Why? Because of those dang preconceived notions, of course. I want Christmas to be perfect, and by perfect, I mean I want not only a perfect day with no problems, the perfect family (you can stop laughing now), my child dressed in the perfect clothing (instead of the mismatched sweats he loves so much), and the perfect weather, I also want everything surrounding it to be perfect. I want Norman Rockwell. Realistic? Maybe in the twilight zone.

So here lately, I've been trying to let go and let Christmas be what it is . . . far from perfect. It's not surprising that the scripture that has been popping up quite a bit lately in my devotional time is Philippians 4:4-7:

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

It's that "be anxious for nothing" part that gets me every time. I'm seriously supposed to not worry and just let God take care of everything? Crazy concept if you ask me. (Please note the sarcasm.) So, I'm working on it. I'm not there yet, but I've let go of Norman Rockwell at least. Because, quite honestly, our Christmas tends to be more like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and yes, I am Clark Griswold. One step at a time people. It's harder than it looks. ;)

Thanksgiving and More

Our break started Wednesday with a visit to see my grandfather in the hospital followed by a little house cleaning, pie baking, and Christmas tree decorating.

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving Day didn't exactly lend itself to picture taking seeing as how I had food in both hands for the majority of the day. The only picture I have is one from Patrick's phone. But it does capture that beauty that was our Thanksgiving turkey . . . prior to being devoured that is.

It was a great day full of food, fun, and family. 

Yesterday, Sarah and I ventured out for Black Friday. The only way she got me to go Black Friday shopping was that I made her promise we would have a good lunch. The following conversation went down via text Thursday night. Keep in mind that I had been eating all! day! long!

Most of the time Red Lobster is not my first choice for seafood, but crab . . . well, crab is always my first choice. 

We started the morning at Wal Mart, which was surprisingly dead, and Sarah started the day by breaking the self checkout. 

After, fixing that problem, we flew through four or five other stores as quickly as possible because, let's face it, I had my eye on the prize people . . . crab legs.

But before we got to the crab legs, I bought this for my mom because this is what she wants for Christmas . . . an electric toothbrush . . .  and no, I'm not kidding.

Shopping was surprisingly pleasant, and last night we took Andrew to see "Wreck it Ralph" which was okay but not great. Then he fell asleep, at 7:15, on the way home. I put him to bed when we got home hoping that he'd sleep all night. Unfortunately, he woke up at 9:15 and thought it was morning. He finally fell back asleep around midnight (he wasn't up that whole time, but he was awake). 

Today, I went back to Wal Mart and finished up a bit of shopping. Then I wrapped presents. 

And I ordered these because I need want them, and they're super cute.

Thanksgiving break is almost over, and Monday it's back to work. But Christmas is only a month away and will be here before we know it. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And hope you enjoyed your food as much as I. ;)

Thankful

It's been a very emotional week. Without going into too much detail, my grandfather has been in the hospital since early Sunday morning. He's had three small strokes, and the doctors have not a clue why. So we're praying for God to give the doctors wisdom along with asking for protection over his mind and body.

When you're in the midst of such a stressful situation, it's sometimes hard to remember to be thankful. But I am thankful. I'm so thankful for my friends and family. I'm thankful that my grandfather is coherent. I'm thankful for God's provision in my life. I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father who is always here no matter what I face.

Today we continue with our Thanksgiving prep. We (read: I) have buttermilk pies to bake and casseroles to prepare (and a kitchen to destroy). Tomorrow we'll watch parades, and eat, and eat, and well, eat some-more. And through it all, we'll remember how truly blessed we are.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Enchanted Rock Recap

I've lived in Texas all my life, and somehow, I've managed to never make it to Enchanted Rock. There was that camping trip in college when we were supposed to go, but the storm of the century swept in and ruined our plans and made me swear I would never camp again.

So this past Friday, we took off of work and school early, loaded up the car, and headed to Fredricksburg with Andrew and Anthony in tow. My one condition for going to Enchanted Rock was that we would not camp. So as Andrew said we "camped at the hotel". With two boys it was rough, but we survived.

Friday night, we ate German food in downtown Fredricksburg, and then we walked around for a while. A lot of the shops have started decorating for Christmas so everything was very festive. We even caught a glimpse of Santa, but he escaped before we could catch up to him.

We did manage to get a hold of this giant M&M. Sink your teeth into that.

A touch of nostalgia.

Ride 'em cowboy.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and headed out to the main attraction. If you've never been to Enchanted Rock well then the word "rock" doesn't do it justice. Massive granite hill/mountain is more like it. It's absolutely unbelievable.

These pictures are out of order, and rather, than try to fix that, I'll just give a quick recap of how it all went down. We started out the morning with a hike to the top of the rock. It was cold and windy but breathtaking.  The hike itself wasn't incredibly strenuous  but it was pretty steep in spots, and I may or not have spent most of the time screaming, "Andrew! Anthony! Stop! Be careful! Don't die!" Just kidding about the last one. I only thought it.

 By the time we got back down around 11:30ish, it was much warmer . . . hence the shedding of clothing. We ate lunch and then headed out to hike the loop around the base. The loop was flat and boring (it would make a  great run, but it was an insanely boring hike . . . there was zero hiking involved). Somewhere along the way we lost track of Anthony. Please, let's keep that to ourselves. I was starting to fear we would be on the five o'clock news, but we were able to find him in a relatively short amount of time. After that little incident, we decided to cut the loop short by cutting through on the Echo Canyon Trail. That would've been fine, but it required a little climbing and a lot of scrambling over large boulders. My perpetually pulled groin muscle did not think it was too bueno (tmi . . . I'm sorry), but I made it with minimal damage to the pulled muscle. And it was far from boring. Plus, we didn't lose anymore kids so it was all good. Sorry for so many pics. 

Bring on the rock! We got this.

There were lots of thumbs up on this trip.

Thumbs up . . . again.

The view from the top.

I really have no idea what's going on here . . . 

or here . . . 

or here . . . 

I have no words.

Now here . . . cool personified.

Patrick's panoramic shots.

This one has Anthony in it twice. Not sure how he swung that.

Bring it . . . I can handle anything.

Like I said . . . I can handle anything. (Anthony is looking reflective in the background.)

Pulled muscle? What pulled muscle?!?

And I quote, "I don't usually climb rocks, but when I do, I climb enchanted ones." Only my husband. And btw he took this of himself.

Made it to the top so of course a thumbs up was in order.

I don't know so don't ask.

We hiked through that mess of brush. The trail was not clearly marked. Thank goodness we weren't relying on my sense of direction, or we'd still be wandering around out there.

We had a great weekend, and the boys had a blast. If you're ever in Central Texas and feel like a good hike, I highly recommend you visit Enchanted Rock. It's fun for the whole family . . . and I was not paid for this endorsement. ;)

When I Get Time, I'll Blog . . .

talk to y'all in 2013.

Just kidding.

But seriously, did y'all know that tomorrow is November 15th? November is halfway gone. Next week is Thanksgiving. Where the heck did this year go?!? The older I get, the faster each year passes. We get so caught up in the busy-ness of life, and one day seems to fade right into another.

But next week is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. The holiday that gets caught and lost between Halloween and Christmas. The holiday that serves to remind us how much we have to be thankful for.

Family, friends, a wonderful husband, a beautiful son, a roof over my head, food on my table, shoes on my feet, electricity, running water (and hot running water at that), the right to worship the one true God, Jesus my Saviour, democracy, freedom, chocolate, coffee, laughter, tears, modern medicine, the beauty of God's creation . . . without a doubt, I have been given much. I pray that I never take it for granted . . . that I always give back . . . that I always remember to be thankful . . .

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;To declare Your loving kindness in the morning,

And Your faithfulness every night,On an instrument of ten strings,

On the lute,

And on the harp,

With harmonious sound.For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work;

I will triumph in the works of Your hands. O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep."

Psalm 92:1-5 NKJV

On Veterans Day

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the year of 1918, with the signing of the Armistice, the fighting in the "War to End All Wars" was brought to an end.

Sadly, evil men still persist in doing evil things, and wars continue to be fought to ensure freedom both here in America and around the world.  As long as this earth continues to exist in its present state, evil will also continue to exist, and the war against evil will continue to be fought.

Over 200 years ago, Irish Statesman Edmund Burke stated,

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Evil will continue to press forward, but I hope and pray that good men will continue to stand up and fight for what is right.

Today we honor all those who have sacrificed so much so that we may be free. We thank those that have given all so we may have all. To those men and women in our armed forces we say a resounding "Thank You". We hold you in the highest regard, and may you always have a place of honor in our nation and in our hearts.

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."

John 15:13 NKJV

Craziest Mom on the Block

It's no secret that I can be a bit high strung intense. And I may or may not be gifted with the ability to overreact at the slightest thing. It's who I am. I have a flair for drama. I always jump to the worst possible conclusions. This is a story of one of those times. Be forewarned, it's about puke. If you have a weak stomach you may want to skip it.

1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. I was woken up by an loud cross between a moan and a cry. Stellar mom that I am, I thought the cat was getting in a fight in the garage. It was only when Patrick jumped up and ran for Andrew's room that I realized, "Oh crap! That strange noise is my child." I bolted out bed after him and pretended like I knew it was Andrew all along. Score point one for me. Word of advice: no matter what, even if you're clueless, never let anyone else know you don't know what's going on.

Andrew was laying in bed bawling and saying his stomach hurt. He looked at us and said, "I called and called but no one came. I tried to get up, but I couldn't walk." Wow! Not exactly my finest moment as a mom. As a consolation prize, I carried him into the bathroom. And after what seemed like forever, I finally got him moved to the couch. The next few hours were a blur of puking, and awful, freaky Japanese anime, middle-of-the-night cartoons, and me trying to shine a flashlight down Andrew's throat to look at his tonsils between the puking because I was convinced and desperately hoped that he did not actually have a stomach virus but instead, had contracted strep at school. How sad is it that I'd rather my child have strep than a stomach bug? Score point two for me. I have an intense hatred for stomach bugs. I have an intense love for amoxicillan. It fixes things fast.

Around 5:00 a.m., I decided, after not being able to get a good look at Andrew's throat, to google strep symptoms in (and yes I was this specific) five year old boys. I was trying to determine if the symptoms change from three years old to five years old. I've said it before, and it remains true, I should not be allowed on any medical websites or message boards. In my delirious meanderings through the internets, I stumbled across a story of a girl whose parents failed to treat her for strep and she died of heart failure. So five hours into this illness, I became paranoid that Andrew was going to develop rapid onset heart failure from undiagnosed strep. Nevermind that the internet clearly stated that in order for this to happen treatment would have to be delayed by more than a week. Score point three for me.

I asked Andrew approximately 2700 times if his throat hurt. He told me approximately 2700 times that it did not. He was so miserably sick to his stomach that I decided to wait and see before I drug him to the doctor. This is where I should've let him stay, but around 2:00 p.m. I noticed that his ears were incredibly red. When Andrew runs fever his ears turn a beautiful scarlet red. So I took his temperature (for the hundredth time), and it was almost 101. At this point, I become convinced, once again, that this was indeed strep and made a desperate call to the doctor's office. I'm surprised they don't screen my calls. I really am that crazy, but instead, they graciously offered to work him in. I dumped out my bathroom trashcan, put on a bra and a clean t-shirt (because those things matter), forced my child into the car, and shoved the trashcan into his lap. He gagged and moaned all the way to the doctor's. When we got there I carried him and his trashcan right smack into the middle of that waiting room. We cleared a space of at least ten feet around us. No one wants to sit within spraying distance of a puking child. Score point four for me.

They got us back relatively quickly. Probably because we were freaking everyone else out. The nurse did a strep test which surprise! made Andrew puke. That was super cool and not at all embarrassing. "Ummm, excuse me can someone watch my son while I go empty this puke in your bathroom? K . . . thanks." I was that lady. The idiot one who takes her puking for 12 hours child to the doctor and exposes 25 other people to his illness. But when the doctor came in, and she looked at Andrew's throat she said, "Wow! Those tonsils are really big, and that throat is definitely red. You did the right thing mom!!!" Yes!!! Score point five for me . . . for real this time. Of course, then the stupid strep test was negative, and the doc said it was viral. But his tonsils were swollen and his throat was red and it was more than your run-of-the-mill stomach bug. I was right . . . just call me Dr. Davis.

Anyway, I hauled the kid back home where he suddenly acted like he'd never been sick, ate two pieces of toast, a bag of goldfish, and a bowl of soup. Typical. And just so you know, the strep culture was negative too. But, by the time I got the call, I had pretty much figured it out for myself. Like I said . . . Dr. Davis . . .

One Thing Remains

I went to bed last night unsure of how things would stand this morning.

I woke up this morning disappointed and heartbroken.

I'm not heartbroken because I don't "like" America's choice for president. I'm heartbroken because of the direction America is going. I'm heartbroken to see the moral decline of America. I'm heartbroken to see our country slip away from it's founding principles.

As I got in my car, rather dejectedly I might add, this morning, this song was playing on the radio. And I realized that in the midst of defeat and heartbreak, in the midst of questions about where our country is headed, in the midst of fear and disappointment, in the midst of it all, God's love never fails. And it's ours, it's America's, for the taking. We just need to accept it. America needs God's forgiveness . . . America needs God's love . . . America needs God's transforming power . . . America needs God. And I for one am glad that His love never fails.

A Pseudo-Political Post for My Christian Friends from a Sleep Deprived Mother

I've been up since 1:45 a.m. with a sick kiddo which in turn led me to spend entirely too much time on Facebook and Twitter. I mean what's one to do while trying to pass the time in the wee hours of the morning?

Of course, the Internet is close to blowing up with news of the elections, and today is the day. So, for better or for worse, we've made it to this point. But of course, because I can't keep my opinions to myself, I feel the need to address something that is reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard every time I hear it.

"No matter what, God's will is going to be done."

Really?!? As Christians do we really believe that? If so, then why even vote? I think it needs to be pointed out that since the beginning of time, people have willingly and openly rebelled against God's will. Countries have chosen not to follow God's will and have crumbled because of it. God's will doesn't happen by default. It's something we must choose to follow. Do I think that we can completely thwart God's purpose and plan for the Earth? Absolutely not. He's God and ultimately He will win in the end, but we as a people and as a nation can go against His will in the here and now.

Just look around you. Abortion is legal. It is legal to murder an unborn baby. And people are living in complete and total sin with absolutely no regard for any moral values. Call me crazy, but I just don't think that it's God's will for all of this to take place.

Somewhere along the way, Americans started getting personal freedom mixed up with the right to sin . . . to live however one pleases with no thought to the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the choice. So yes, I'm praying for God's will to be done, but I also believe that part of His will is for Christians to get out there and vote . . . to stand up for what is biblically sound and right. I wish that there was a perfect candidate, but there isn't. So I look at what each believes. What values each stands for, and then I look at what the Bible says. And in the end that's how I vote. I hope and pray that other Christians will do the same. If you choose not to vote then don't gripe about the demise of America. Don't bother to whine and cry about abortion and gay marriage and how this country is going to be a moral and financial wreck by the time your kids and grand-kids are grown. You chose not not to vote so don't even think about it. Because yes, prayer is important. It's the most powerful weapon we have. But we are not robots and taking action is also of the utmost importance. God gave us brains for a reason. Use yours today.

Halloween and Preschool Sunday

So this year, Andrew did not celebrate Halloween by dressing as a ninja. I was really happy he picked the ninja costume. It only cost $10. We have a total of one picture of Andrew from Halloween, and it's only relatively okay. This is not my fault. I'm going to completely throw my husband under the bus here, and I don't feel too bad about it.

First, I am not home when Andrew gets ready and leaves for school, and Halloween morning was no different. He was still in bed when I headed out the door. In Patrick's defense, I didn't remind him to take a picture of Andrew in his costume before school. So, I guess he's off the hook there. But on Wednesday night, when we went to the church for the Fall Festival, which, huge coincidence, happened to be on the same day as Halloween, I decided to let Patrick handle the picture taking. Normally, we are both running around with cameras, and I feel like we look crazy. So I thought, "He's taking his camera. I don't need mine." Mistake. Patrick doesn't take pictures he messes around with the camera settings, and randomly photographs anything in his line of sight. Which means we ended up with a lot of pictures, but none of our child. Well except this one . . .

I know, I already have 6000 pictures of Andrew, and I could easily have him don his costume again so I could photograph him. But it's not the same. Lesson learned. From now on, I'll handle the major photography.

A few weeks ago, the church that runs the school where Andrew goes to preschool had "preschool" Sunday. Since I never posted those pictures, I decided to go ahead and post them now. Patrick did take most of these so I guess there may be hope for him. We'll see.