Do you hear what I hear?

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I did. My mama and I took a girls shopping trip to Jackson, MS, just the two of us! We had great fun finishing up our Christmas shopping. I have had myself holed up away from sweet man and baby girl trying to wrap presents for the last few hours! Whew that is a job!! Does anybody besides me shout for joy to the person that invented gift bags??? However, my husband likes everything wrapped as he loves to watch everyone open their gifts and he feels gift bags are anti-climactic. So.... I have to make sure there is a good mix. Compromise - it is what makes a marriage work. :)
While wrapping my gifts I did one of my favorite seasonal things - Listen to my Christmas music!!!! I thought it would be fun to hear what everyones all time favorites are. I love me some traditional Christmas carols - O Holy Night is probably my favorite - however, I do have a few tunes that get me in my core. You know what I mean - ones I have to play so loud it is rocking the windows and I play them over and over. Baby girl is embarrassed to pull into the parking lot at school with me every morning! Here is my list of must haves right now:

"Little Drummer Boy" - Josh Groban - my goodness the orchestration of this causes me to pretend I am a cymbal player, orchestra conductor and a drummer boy. All while I am supposed to be driving. No wonder I cause my children dismay.
" It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" - Again Josh Groban - the beauty of this song is amazing. Simple, beautiful, heavenly.
"While you Were Sleeping" - Casting Crowns - I don't even know what to say about this one - If you have never heard it - find it and play it until you are brought to tears over a God that came into a world that made no room for Him who came to save us all.
"Jesus Saves" - Travis Cottrell - Have you ever heard a song that made you want to get saved all over again? This one is it for me. Play it and play it loud till your insides are vibrating. That is how much I love this song.

Now that you all think I am weirder than you suspected, tell me what you replay this Christmas season.

Christmas Blessings,
Michelle

Things Pondered

I finally got all my Christmas decorations up yesterday. I know, I know some people have had theirs up for a month. Still need to do a little more work to my trees, but that is not what this post is about. Those who have been to my house know that at Christmas time you will find a lot of Nativities. A LOT! The first Christmas of our married life my sweet man bought me my very first one. Does anyone remember Wicks and Sticks in the mall? That is where my first nativity came from. He spent what was a small fortune on it at the time. Funny, as I was dragging out box after box of decorations I remembered how we had hardly any decorations that first Christmas. I collected pine cones and shellacked them and hot glued bows to the end of them and hung on our tree. It was beautiful in its sparseness. I had no idea how much this nativity would affect me.

I was not saved that first Christmas of our marriage. I had walked the aisle way back in my pre-teen years at church camp. More out of fear of going to hell and being the only person left in the pew than by a conviction to receive Christ. I had grown up in church. Knew all the Bible stories one should know, all the hymns - loved the hymns -all the right "church" things a good church going girl should know. Did I believe in God - well of course I did. But,  did I believe Him? Did I believe that:

Luke 2:11-12

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you (emphasis mine); He is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

I do now. So you see, now when I gaze around my house and see the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger, I marvel and am humbled to my core that the Creator of the universe, the One who set the earth on its axis, who parted the waters from the firmament, CHOSE to come to earth wrapped in flesh to live just so He could die, just so I can live for eternity with Him. Oh what a Savior!

Sweet man has bought me one every year since. Some extravagant, some not so much. This is my new one for this year. It is hand painted and absolutely breathtaking. I can't quit staring at it.

Gorgeous, isn't it? I wonder if that is what the shepherds thought as the whole sky lit up and their ears were blessed with a heavenly chorus of angels announcing a departure from heaven but an entrance to earth. I have this crazy notion that when we get to heaven we will be able to check out DRM's. Bear with me here!  Divinely Recorded Moments. As I read some stories in my bible my imagination runs rampant with the movie in my head of what it all was like. I so, so hope that God allows us to see on the biggest flat screen ever - the firmament - with special effects that we can't comprehend- the real thing as it happened. Some DRM's I think I can forego , but some - oh I can't wait to see what those shepherds saw and hear what they heard! More than I can bear to think about.

This year I have a nativity tree. I have many nativity ornaments and that is all that is on this particular tree. I am not done with it but I love it so much already. This nativity was my mother-in-loves for many years and she passed it on to me a few years back. It is at the base of the nativity tree. I treasure it so much.

This is my mantel. No nativity but isn't it pretty?!

Another of my favorites. Jim Shore is a talented craftsman.

I shouldn't have put this on here because it isn't done but I couldn't help myself.

My nativity's give me perspective on what this season is about. They calm me, soothe me, and remind me of what Luke 2:17 tells me - "When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child."

What about you? Have you met Jesus yet? If so, tell others. Tell them your experience with Him. Tell them what the Bible says about Him - He is the Savior, Christ the Lord. And He has been born to YOU!

O' Come Let Us adore Him!!!

Blessings,
Michelle

40 Years

Thanksgiving day was my mama's birthday and also her anniversary.  The Lord blessed me with four wonderful parents, and this particular set celebrated 40 years of marriage. He didn't just marry her he married me too! I often say he got a package deal. Mama was the package and I was the deal!

 Don't they look like babies! My mama is beautiful. Even more so now than she was then.

This was them on Friday night when all the "fruit" of their forty years got together to celebrate them. They are the most generous, kind  people I know and we love spending time with them.

Here they are toasting each other.

This is a cake my sister ordered and it was so delicious. We have eaten so much over the last week I am going to have to go to food rehab. The bell topper on this cake is the one that was on their original cake and my sisters and I all three used it on our wedding cakes.

The house was full of people who love my parents. Here is my sweet daughter-in-love, my daddy's sister and my mama's sister-in-law. They are all a blast to be around.

My sweet sisters and myself. We truly are the joy of our parents lives! That, or the bane of their existence! Depends upon which day you ask them! We each gave our parents their share of grief. Them more than me! Not really, our parents disciplined us but loved us tremendously. They love our husbands like they are their own sons and tell them that often.

Brother and sister. I love that they enjoy being together.

Connor just got back from putting out deer corn. :)

Graham is just - well look at him - he is just darling!

My mama, me, my girls and my grandpeeps.

Mama is always ready to offer her advice and wisdom when asked. After dinner she shared with us what the last forty years have been to her. We were thankful she didn't say it was like wandering in the wilderness! However she did let us know that marriage is hard but if you stick with it you do reach the Promised Land and it is much better than any fairy tale you think about when you are a newlywed. She told us that marriage is not spelled "happy" but "commitment". True that. My parents have been the best kind of example when it comes to persevering through the tough times and marriage is tough. But so worth it.

Mama and Daddy,

We all love you both so much and are so thankful for the blessing you are to each of our lives. Happy Anniversary and we can't wait until your 50th, when Daddy takes us all to Hawaii!!Wink, Wink. We all know it will probably be to the deer stand but that is okay too!

Love,

Michelle

The Day After

Seriously, I am still so full  from yesterday I don't know when I will be able to eat another bite. Wait a minute, I saved MawMaw's cranberry salad for my breakfast today. Maybe I can eat that. Oh yeah, and I was going to eat some of my brother-in-law's ham in one of my HOMEMADE rolls. Guess the binge will continue through today!

We had a great time of fellowship yesterday with a house full. The best part was my sweet father-in-love being with us, healthy, happy, and OUT OF THE HOSPITAL. Thank you Lord. We all had much to give thanks about and just a great time being together. Here are some pics from our day:

Our silly sweet girla!

My nephew, brother-in-law, and Daddy discussing something about deer hunting I am sure.

Great Paw and sweet baby Graham.

One table full of happy eaters.

People think Savannah must not eat a lot because of her stature - Ha! Look at her plate! Connor wanted to be at the head of this table. Thought provoking question from him for the day - "Gigi, do turkeys have boogers?" Gigi-"Not the one I cooked sweetheart. I made sure it was a booger free turkey." Him -"Okay, good."

Christine in her glasses I got her for her Saints game trip last weekend. She is a doll. Kind of resembles Harry Carey though in these shades!

Savannah and her sweet Nannie. My sweet other mother.

Game time is a must at our house. We all love to play games, cards, dominos, just about anything and for the first time in many years no one got furious with anybody else.

Uncle Josh is so much fun for the nephews. They love him and he loves them.

Graham is all about loving his PawPaw and giving him kisses. Sweet.

Graham and his momma!

I hope you and yours had a blessed day and now it is time to deck the halls! Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra -(A Christmas Story - gotta love it!)

Blessings,

Michelle



Birthdays and Thanksgiving

Today is my sweet Mama's birthday! It is also my parents 40th anniversary which we will celebrate tomorrow and I will talk about later. Today, since it is Thanksgiving I want to tell my mother why I am thankful God chose her to be my Mama. She is not "Mom" or "Mother" she has always been and always will be "MY MAMA" Must be a southern thing.

Mama,
You have been the best kind of mother to my sisters and me. You were our mother and not our friend growing up. I never realized how hard that must have been for you until I had a teenage daughter and now I have another one! I am sorry I lost my mind for those teenage years. Thank you for waiting patiently - well for waiting- that I would regain my sanity at some point in my life. Thank you for nilla wafers with peanut butter and laying on a blanket and making cloud shapes with me when you got to stay home with me when I was little. Thank you for all that stopping when Jennifer came along - I mean thank you for my baby sister. Thank you for teaching me what hard work is about and working hard at all you do. See, you  knew making me dust the leaves on the plants would pay off. Hence the reason there are no potted plants in my house! hehe!
Thank you for inviting Granny to come live with us and allowing her the space to be our best friend growing up. My life would be so much different had she never come to our house for those 17 years. You used to say, "I wish I was sweet like Mother." Oh Mama, if you ever doubt that you aren't like Granny, just ask one of your grandchildren that adore you and think you hung the moon. They'll straighten you out.Thank you for teaching me that you were never stronger than when on your knees before the Lord. Your relationship with Jesus is a blessing to me and I thank Him that you love Him so much.
Thank you for not allowing me to be like so many other girls when I was growing up - even though I wanted to be like them so badly at the time.  Thank you for instilling confidence in me and never letting me have a pity party about anything in your presence. It didn't mean we couldn't be sad about things, we just weren't going to whine about things that didn't matter. Thank you for loving your family the way you do. You are such a tower of strength to so many people.
Thank you for instilling in me the love of shopping! You are so fun and so cute. I love hanging out with you. I hope my girls will feel that way when they are older.
Thank you for making us leave our childhood home and our tree swing and all our memories! I am kidding. Home is where ever you and Daddy are. I mean that. You do that - you make places feel like home cause you're Mama!
Much more to tell you but I will tell you in person when I see you tomorrow. I hope you all have a great day today.
I love you more than you can know and I am thankful I am the one that got to make you a Mama.
Happy Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving Mama.
Michelle

Family

This morning I am sitting in my favorite cozy chair in the corner and am mentally preparing for the next couple of days. I mean that in a good way not a negative one. Right now things are very silent in my house and over the next two days it will fill up with my loved ones and I won't be able to hear myself think. I can't wait!

A couple of days ago I began writing down all the scriptures I found about thanks, thankfulness and thanksgiving. Over and over I read how we are to give thanks in all circumstances, thank him in the morning and the evening. Be thankful. Overflow with thankfulness. Petition with thanksgiving. Remember and give thanks. Thanksgiving should not be a one time of the year occurence. It should be as natural to us as breathing. A constant state of thanksgiving and gratitude.

I started to think about where all my family members are this morning. Baby girl in her bed, one sweet grandpeep in my bed (which is somewhat like trying to sleep with a helicopter), another grandpeep on the other side of town sleeping in his bed- with his hands pushed up under the bumper pads. Two precious sons on their way to work. A daughter who is getting to sleep in this morning because I have the helicopter in my bed! A daughter-in-law preparing for all the things the day holds for her as a stay at home momma. A husband in his deer stand. A father-in-law who gets to go home today after a SEVENTY day hospital stay. A precious mother-in-law preparing for his homecoming. A mama who I am sure is sipping coffee on her back porch with one of my sisters and the rest of her house guests ( also people I love dearly). A sweet other momma who is hopefully sleeping in. Two wonderful men that are my daddys that are probably on the deer stand. ( We are a strange group of predators!) The sweet girlfriend of our baby boy getting ready for work and she will surely call me today and ask as she always does -"Do you need any help?" Another sister who just celebrated 14 years of marriage. A brother in the presence of the One who gives all these good and indescribable gifts. Thankful. Blessed. Speechless.
So much more I want to write that I am thankful for but right this minute I want to thank Him for my family. They are my heartbeat and I can't understand a God who lavishes His love on me so. Thank you Lord.
To be continued.......

THE RACE IS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: Girls did well. Not as good as we hoped but we were proud. Baby girl was great! But the highlight of the day is our boys TOOK STATE!!!! Yeah Panthers! So proud of all our runners. Can't wait until next year.

Here they are  - the state runners and the race is today!!!! Parkway girls have a great chance to win the 4A state title if they can beat Benton! Go Panthers!!!!!!
Update to come!