It is officially Christmas at my house

I love to decorate. I mean I love, love, love to decorate. I come by it naturally. My mom decorated for every holiday. She had "off-season" decor and she had seasonal decor. I can't help but love the holidays. There is so much to decorate with :) I decorate for the fall on September 1. By November1 I am listening to Christmas music and by the weekend before Thanksgiving my house is decorated for Christmas! Bo thinks I am crazy. He just can't understand why I love it so much. He even grilled my sister, Candace, last night about my so called "traditions". However, she confirmed that I wasn't crazy weird about my decorations, that we did in fact grow up that way!

My family has lots of other traditions that have followed me into my marriage. Christmas stockings for instance...growing up Santa always filled your stocking on Christmas Eve and laid it out for you to open on Christmas morning. This will be the first year in my whole life that I have a different Santa filling my stocking :) My mom also makes cheese soup and goodies the night before Thanksgiving and we all gather around at her house and laugh and talk and get ready for the very busy day ahead. Growing up we always played a game in the car with my dad. The first one to spot Christmas lights won the game, and the prize dad owed you  $1.00. Based on that game, my dad owes me thousands of dollars!!! I have so many more traditions that I could talk about. But, I think you can see why this is such a special time of year for me.

What are some of your family traditions?

I stand amazed in my Revelation

I wasn't going to blog that today is the last day of bible study since last week I said we had 2 sessions left...but I couldn't help it. I was doing my homework this morning and I read all the way to the end of Revelation. When you least expect God to pop off the pages, He doesn't just pop out...he will JUMP OUT AND GRAB YOU! I have clung with both fists to the verse in Genesis that says God was walking in the garden looking for Adam and Eve even calling out to them "Where are you?". My whole life changed when I read that verse. It was my whoa God moment. That moment where you not only feel shivers and tingles, but when you go back and think about it you get the same feeling all over again. In Revelation 21: 3 it says this, "Look! God's dwelling is with men, and He will live with them- they will be his people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God." I am so excited about that verse. It seals the deal for me. I am hooked on God! From beginning to end God has been dwelling with us. He has been longing to return to that fellowship with us. He will search us out and seek us even knowing that we have fallen, and in the end, He still wants to dwell among us forever!

He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End...how awesome is the God we serve. What a promise we have to look forward to. Yes, He is coming quickly.

A revelation about friends

I realized that I only have 1 or 2 sessions left in the Revelation study I have been doing at church. It got me thinking about the women in that group and what they mean to me. I am greatly blessed by the incredible women that I call my friends. Thank you to all the amazing ladies who are walking and growing with me on our spiritual journey! What an amazing thing it is to be in the family of God! I will continue to pray for each one of you that God continues to bless you lives and our friendship.

"Two are better that one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down, the other is there to help him up.
But, pity the man who falls
and has no one to pick him up."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Baby Grady - 5 days old

These are long over-due but I wanted to get them posted before he was a grown boy! I got the joy of taking Katy's maternity pictures and when she asked me to do Grady's newborn pictures, I was thrilled. He was such a good baby the entire day. I loved that Justin was able to be here for their first family pictures!

Billy and Kelly's Engagement Pictures

I met Billy about a year and half ago when I worked at the Press. I got to see Kelly's ring before he proposed and I got to hear all the details about how everything went. I loved getting to spend the afternoon with Billy and Kelly. I could see the love that they had for each other! It shines through every time they smile at each other. I pray that over the next couple of months, God continues to bless them!

  

Sponsor

I wanted to share the new and exciting adventure God has brought into my life. I have been wanting to get more involved in activities and groups at work. I just feel like I have talents that could be used here. So, I talked to my friend Diane about volunteering as a sponsor for the organization she is a part of. Turns out they needed more people to sponsor, so me and mom are now a part of the Chi's organization.

The best part about this organization is that the girls volunteer every weekend all over town. They show their love and support of others and this community with their hands. Their motto is "clasped hands in service" They are sharing God's love by the simple acts they do: cleaning up trash, habitat for humanity and other great programs in town.

I am really excited to be a part of this. I look forward to getting to know all the girls and getting to serve with them around town!!!