O Holy Night

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining.
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Til He appeared and the soul felt it's worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoyces. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn Fall on your knees.

O hear the angel voices, O night divine!
O night when Christ was born, O night divine! O night, O night divine!

And in His Name, all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus. Let all within us praise his holy name, Christ is the Lord!

Noel, Noel, O night, O night Divine. Noel, Noel, O night, O night Divine. Noel, Noel, O night, O holy Divine

The Nutcracker and My Girls~

For years we have talked about it~
For years we have dreamt about it~
This year we made the memory~

  
The Nutcracker preformed with the orchestra. Just mom and her girls out on a date. I enjoyed watching the shadow of their bright eyes fixed on the performance. They both were amazed. I know I will be visiting this evening for years to come.Thanking the Lord for his blessings.

Was it Almost a Month~ Ramble

                 I could not allow a month to pass. Where did the time go and how have you been my family and friends? So many nights I thought about jumping on here for a quick blog post and then I knew I did not have the time to say all I needed, so I waited.

Well something small is better than nothing at all, right.

So here is the try to be quick catch you up~ ramble

Allen got the job~ He has been apprenticing for over a month now. We are excited to learn he will have collage credited hours throughout this journey. 

He is tired, but happy. I am sure it will just take some time for his mind and body to adapt to the change. 

Our place is for SALE~ Oh how bitter sweet it is to have the homestead open for takers. The first few weeks I was not thinking about the bitter part of it. We had prayed and talked it over. Hearing the Lord, we went for it with a smile on our face. 

As the Christmas "season" approached I could feel the bitter part of it setting in. The memories and the love we have here in our home.  Even with this harder side, we trust that selling and moving is the path our Lord is calling us upon.  We are greatly enjoying our home in this wonderful season of Christ birth. We are not thinking about the sign posted in our yard, Christmas in our home is warm, joyful and filled with love. It is not the house that creates this, it is the Lord and the family he has blessed us with. So wherever this path leads us, our home shall be there.  There is so much more I could share, but it will have to come at a later time, with much less of a ramble.

Church News~ I am busy busy with our tiny church that is overflowing with growth. This year I have ten wonderful boys and girls in my First Holy Communion class and about thirty children all together. As well as newborns, babies on the way and families converting to Catholicism. If you did not know, we are a tiny branch off of a large Catholic church about 45min away, so this growth is something to rejoice over. Now we just need a larger building and volunteers to jump in and get involved. Soon I will be sharing more photos of  All Saints Day and other celebrated feast I have missed sharing here with you.

Last night we had a full church practicing for our Christmas play. I am so thankful two of the other ladies were there to help.  I have glitter everywhere. We have been decoupaging a star, making crowns, pulling out costumes and handing out parts. Sweet Pea will be the angel that delivered the great news. She kicks off the play with a bright star and a Welcome to the Christmas Play greeting. Sunshine is reading a part and Little Man will be Joseph. Little Man also made the manger for this years play. Even with the exhaustion and in times that I must remind myself that in the full season of giving my time, it  is time spent giving to him.  In this I am gratful.

Life News~ As I stated before, we have signed up to volenteer at a local ministries foster/adoption org. We also just wrapped up 40 Days for Life fall 2011. Our church family pulled together to pray every Tuesday night for the unborn and a month long baby shower for the local pregnancy help center. It was really neat seeing our small church pull together for life with so many others across the world. 

Homestead, Critters and Garden Goods~ We still have the horses, but I know we will have to sell them or give them to a good loving family when we move.

Our goat Valentine looks like a big white cotton ball, last weeks snow brought this on.

The chickens are still laying. The dogs are still being overly spoiled by Sweet Pea. Lastly, the garden was a no-go. After my time in the hospital, the fall garden was just not going to work this year.

Home school and Thanksgiving~
Home school has been rolling. Sunshine is doing well with her new Hooked On Phonics and Little Man is doing great this year all together.
This has been the year I can breathe and know he is really getting the core.
Whew~ Now that he has this, learning will be so much more fun for him.

Sweet Pea is writing her name and learning her sounds. She loves to draw. She is a talented artist, I am wowed by her much of the time. 

We enjoyed a fall field trip with a new home school group. The kids and I both made new friends. That is always good:)
We have also enjoyed group studies on the First Thanksgiving. Along with poems of thanks, crafts and giving.  To our surprise the kids had prepared a wonderful and hilarious Thanksgiving play. I knew they made their costumes, but I had no idea the work they put in this surprise for us.  It was great.

Well I guess this is it for now. I could sit and blog all night, but I better get to bed. I have been following through with our scedule the past few weeks. The kids needed it and so did I.  Be looking in, I plan on blogging almost daily to jump in on the Christmas fun. Oh and tell me, How you are?

Blessed Advent to you and yours, my dear bloggy friends!

Happy Birthday USA~

 Here praying that you and yours had a wonderful Independence Day! As we THANK the brave men and women that made this possible for us!

(Make your own flag craft with Popsicle Sticks and paper folded for flag. Next hand it over to the kids for decorating. They make a wonderful Center Piece / Cake Topper .)

  Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup best-quality cocoa
1 1/2 sticks soft unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

 2 (each 8-inch diameter) layer tins with removable bases, buttered

Directions

Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.
Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don't worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.

Homemade Powdered Sugar Icing

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup stick margarine or butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2-4 tablespoons water

Preparation:

Melt margarine in a saucepan. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix until smooth and of desired consistency (a thick syrup). Drizzle over cooled cake. (This will glaze one 12-cup bundt cake or a 10-inch angel food cake.)

Happy Valentines Day to you

Valentines Day crafts in the works~

Valentines day is always a fun craft time for me. The color red, homemade flowers and  those adorable construction paper  hearts! I love it all. This year we have made the crafts you see here. Coffee filter flowers, a coffee filter wreath, butterflies, OXOX sticks and cards.  What about you, do you share this love? If so what have you been up to? Thanking the Lord for LOVE~

2010 in Photograph

What a blessed year 2010 was for our family. It came with its surprise and it came with loss.  Trusting God through it all. It also came with laughter, love and memories. Lots and lots of memories. Here you will find 2010 in photographs~

Happy New Year!!!

To see 2009 in photographs click here~