Goings On

Here is the wondrous tree Phoebe picked out! She did a great job, didn't she!

I have been craving my mama's fudge for about 3-4 years, since we moved away! So finally, I feel inspired to cook, bake, and make since it the season for goodies! My mama's fudge is my fav and my first attempt at the recipe was a success! Nate helped! Yay! Thanks, Mom!

Not so easy to get a good pic of the magic of a decorated, lit up Christmas tree. I personally, like the fuzzy pic better. Don't you?

See below if you are a detail person. :) haha

Happy Birthday, Natey! (*updated 12/17/09)

More to come...

I need to scan a few. But just look at him!

In lieu of 14 regular stick candles, I used a little creativity (certainly not b/c upon getting ready to light and sing, I dig through entire cupboard and drawer to find I have no little box of stick candles!) and used the "Its the Big 1" candle from when Nate turned One! Plus a "3" candle and one little stick candle!! What?! It was fine! Besides the cake was yummy, and we sang and he blew out some fire! OK?! :)

Touches my heart

The following is an excerpt from the very beautiful end of my Esther Bible study by Beth Moore. I did this study on my own this summer and I loved it. I have been very in love with Esther's story since my dear friend, Bethany, gave me a novelized version of the story to read called Hadassah, One Night with The King, by Tommy Tenney. This ending in my workbook absolutely chokes me up every time I read it. I want to live my life so that the telling of my story is honoring to my Storyteller. Lord, help me...

 One day on the hillside of the new Jerusalem, surrounded by a crowd of glad hearers, the divine Narrator will tell the story of one young woman’s life. It will not be Esther’s. It will not be your teacher’s. It will be yours.

The story will begin something like this: “Once upon a time, in the days of the great and glorious Jesus, King of the vast empire of heaven and earth, there was a little girl who thought she was forgotten. Her name was Adrian but the King called her Beloved. This is the story of how she won His favor.” And with all the drama and emotion a great storyteller can muster, the Rabbi will read the congregation your whole Megillah. The listeners will groan. Bite their nails with suspense. It will be a raucous affair. With every mention of the villain’s name, the crowd will heckle and jeer. Then at the height of the story, when hope seems lost and her life and loves most threatened, He will say these words to the crowd:

“But if only she’d known, she had come to royal position for such a time as this!” By faith alone, to her face she will fall… then to her feet she will rise, ready to do what deliverance demands. Then the Rabbi will quote her resolve: “And if I perish, I perish” and the crowds will stand and cheer! For what if she does perish? Is that the worst this world’s wicked Haman can threaten? On the day that she does, this is what will happen: She will put on her royal robes and stand in the inner court of the palace, in front of the King’s hall. The King will be sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he sees his queen standing in the court, he will be pleased with her and hold out to her the gold scepter that is in his hand (Esth 5:1-2).

And she will approach.

And cast her crown at His feet.

“God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. (Ps 18:24, The Message)

P.S.

P.S. AND then we had some friends over when it was time for dessert! I made Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie. It was a great Thanksgiving. The only way it would have been better was if we were able to be with family, but counting our blessings, it was great.

Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

Where to start....
Honestly the first few thoughts that formed in my head were;
~waking up this day, warm and comfortable after a good nights rest
~being able to go yesterday WITH my 3 younger children (plus the little punkin I babysit for part of the time) to buy our Thanksgiving Feast. While they wheeled up and down the aisles in their Heelies and grabbed things for me, we found all we 'needed' and just a couple of extras, like Sparkling Cider and cute little Pepperidge Farm GingerPeople!
~And ever so much for my beautiful, wonderful, healthy FOUR children! I am SO blessed by them and LOVE them SO MUCH!!
~And I wouldn't have them with out their Daddy! What a guy. I was telling the girl I worked with yesterday, we are coming up on 17 years this January and its just starting to get really good! Not to say it was bad but it wasn't all pretty, some of it was dang hard. I am thankful for our commitment to our God and our marriage, otherwise we might have been just one of the more common broken marriages, rather than what we are and will continue to be, 'still married'. One of the things that stuck with John in the beginning from marriage counseling or Weekend to Remember, was the goal of giving 100% in the relationship and having an expectation of 0%. Not doing things with the motivation of what you want to get out of it, just to bless the other person and honor the Lord. Ideally, if both are working this way, things go much more smoothly. It took me much longer to soak in this concept than John. Thankfully, he has had much patience and forgiveness for me over the years!
We have much, much, MUCH to be thankful for. One of the things John prays almost every time he prays, is that 'we can't thank Him enough' and its true. We can't. Even if we tried, there are so many things we don't even realize He has done! 
Thank You my great God. Thank You.

The girls set the table.

(L.E. made us some place cards)

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love is everlasting!

This is the Bird. I have only made one other turkey and was thus lacking full confidence, however, I am overjoyed to announce (Because I would have hated to ruin a 13# hunk of dinner meat!) it turned out moist and pretty darn tasty! YAY!

I cooked a turkey!

The Man is always ready, willing, and more than able to help in the kitchen. (secret: He is a better cook than I am. Not a secret from my children, they usually ask, did you make this or did Dad? They have to steel themselves for my cooking. :P)

Pics of the some of the people I love and thank my sweet, generous God for.

Phoebe gets the funny Thanksgiving quote. I was talking over with John the menu and he said yes to stuffing and yes, he loves StoveTop (whew!) so I made Stuffing and we had the kids take a taste test, Phoebe tried it and said, 'Mm, this filling is good!'

P.S.The Man cleaned up Thanksgiving dinner for me!!! That's what I'm saying!! :)

Dear Family, We missed you this day so much as we do often. We hope we will be able to sit at the table and feast with you one day again soon. We are so thankful for each and every one of you and pray your health, happiness, joy and peace. You are so beyond precious to us. We look forward to hugging you tightly and kissing your dear cheeks again soon! Love, Love, Love!!

XOXOXOXO

Mom and Dad, Nick, Amy, Madi, Mason

and all of the Mason, Johnson clan!!

Mom and Dad Mc, Jake, Mike, Amber, Isaac, Anna

And all of the McNamara, Barber clan!!

Getting a picture of Nate

Worth it?

Yes. 

However, I think I may have called him a ... something at one point. And had to threaten to have Dad hold him. But there it is.

He went to the store with John and Jacob Saturday, and found his new hat.

Put back a new Wii game to get the hat.

Interesting.

Speaking of Nate, John and I went to his junior high dance Friday night as chaperons. (This is the spelling Spell Check gave me, but it looks weird to me!? OK, I looked it up and that is right, and here is the definition just for fun: any adult present in order to maintain order or propriety at an activity of young people, as at a school dance.

Yes, we were there "to maintain order or propriety" and believe me, it was... interesting. I leaned over and yelled in John's ear at one point, "The girls are not coming to one of these. Ever."

You can hold me to that in about ...4 years, when Ellie is in junior high. Or at least, as I begin to recognize the possible naivety of laying down a law 4 years early, at the very least we will most definitely not have to be asked to chaperon, we will be there.

ANYWAY...

I watched my baby, my firstborn son, dance with a girl, slow dance. Can't really explain how I felt. Surprised, relieved, sad, happy, upset stomach, not really an upset stomach but a definite tightening in my gut. 

So, yah, watching your children grow up, while wonderful, is also hard.

Caramel Apples

Somehow, in our craziness, we didn't get to the pumpkin-carving this year. We were battling illness that week, but anyway... I asked Ellie how it would be if we made caramel apples to make up for not doing the pumpkin thing. She was very excited about that!!

Had to have a silly-face pic! :)

How beautiful is this pic.

Date night for Macky and I! :)

Pics FINALLY!!

John is dressed in the 'costume' he wears daily... our Hero!!!

We had BEAUTIFUL weather this evening...

adorable Miss Aliese, the Butterfly, came by for some treats!

A random little trick-or-treater said to me, "Are you a Fairy Princess?" I was so overjoyed that she got my costume!!! :)

We had a Ninja with some serious skills,

an adorable dalmatian pup,

and the cutest kitty-cat I have ever seen!!!!

Jacob

got

outside

for

the first time in about a week today. John was piling up some leaves and got the kids out for some pics.

Couple random shots of Nate and Jacob.

And the football pic! Jacob is right there on the end in yellow, his number was 20.

The girls were in a play a few weeks ago. Ellie in orange hair and a yellow romper. And Phoebe was a chameleon.

WHEW!! I feel so much better to have some pics on here again!!! Enjoy!

Stolen...

1. I’m going to wake up each morning dedicated to doing my best; and accept that on some days my best will be excellent and on other days my best will be allowing my good enough to be good enough.

2. I’m going to cover my children in prayer. I’m not going to ever have all the answers. Despite my desire to control my life, I was not given that responsibility. It’s not my job. But I’m on a first name basis with the One who is in charge. And I can call on Him…not just for the answers, but as the Answer.

3. I’m going to enlist my inner “Mama Bear” to capture, shackle, and kick out every stinking lie that invades my heart. Lies like I’m a failure as a mother; God made a mistake by thinking I could handle this (fill in the blank); and, I’m going to ruin my kids. Once those culprits are vanished, I’m going to plant truth in those empty spaces. Truth such as, I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind – 2 Tim., 1:7; I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit – John, 15:16; and, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength – Phil., 4:13.

written by Angela Nazworth, to see post in its entirety visit here: http://www.incourage.me/2009/08/the-question-mark.html

~Yep, I copied and pasted this. It struck me and I want to remember it and read it again. Maybe you will get something from it as well!

Love, Adrian

God Bless!

Nicknames

Nicknames!

I just realized... I love them!

I surely didn't used to...

remember in school the meany-pants kids who figured out a way to taunt you using your NAME, OF ALL THINGS! I mean this is the lowest... come on, a person's name?! Tease me about my horrible hair, my non-name brand jeans, or the fact that I tripped over nothing! But my name?! I can't do anything about that! My parents picked it! And secretly, I like it! But, I had nothing to do with it! And it won't be forgotten tomorrow like the tripping thing!

I remember vividly 'the incident' in grade school when my name came under attack by the cute, popular (MEAN) boy in school. My middle name is Nichole and my parents nicknamed me Nicki as a baby. So this is what I went by. On the day I was the lucky one to be picked on, he called me... Icky Nicki. Noooooooo... but then I remembered! I have another name! Ha! I replied, It isn't my real name! My name is Adrian! Ha! But the Name-Taunter has a talent. He can rhyme with almost anything!!! If only my name was Orange...

Anyway, he triumphantly, retorts with... Adrian the Alien.

Oh no...

Ah, well...

I like the quote about childhood being what you spend the rest of your life getting over. True story.

And now, years later,

I love nicknames! And I am a Nick-Namer!

I shower my children with nicknames, a new one falls from my lips without warning, almost every day!

Sickening example: When Nate was born, we baby-talked to him. Frightening, isn't it? Have you heard people or yourself talk like this? It is very... laughable. But in the privacy of our own home we did baby-talk to him. There. Confessed. So, 'Nathan' became 'Naffin', which then became 'Finners.' Cute, huh?!! Ha!

Then when we named our second son, Jacob, he had an uncle already nicknamed Jake, so I started calling our baby 'Cub', 'Cubbie,' which becomes

'Cubbie Wubbie was a Bear!'

Nicknames that fly around our house:

Cookie, Jammie, JellyBean, Zoobah, Macky, Natey, Tater, Punkin head,

La-la, Pheebs.

Good stuff, huh!
And the best ones of late:

Ciabatta and Wasabi!

HA-HA!

Wanna share your nicknames???

~Butterfly~

These are the things I'm thinking of today (and Google-searching)...

I love the verse in 2 Corinthians 5:17 about being a new creation: Therefore if any is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

And butterflies are such a lovely representation. They start out as caterpillars (wormy little things), and then transform into beauty. Kind of like us, eh? From inching along on the ground to flying free through the air. Ahhh.... flying free. Our souls get to experience flight in the peace and joy we receive from His Spirit within, still, at times, or often, we are abruptly grounded by our flesh. But one day, my friends, one sweet day, we will be free of our bodily cocoons and our wings will fully unfurl to carry us forever away from the distractions and weights of this world that hold us down. Mmmm...