Letting Go....

At first glance these pictures may look like I'm at a bonfire about to party it up!
But the truth is these were taken at church ! Because the New Year is upon us, Pastor had a small sermonette about letting go of the past and surrendering to Christ on a daily basis. He asked us to write down what we want to let go of and give to God..... to completely trust God with whatever we're believing for.


Then the entire congregation (about 100 people on a Wed night) walked out back and held hands, prayed, sang songs and then threw our requests into the fire.



It was very "cathartic"... letting go of worries, letting go of hurts, just letting go and letting God handle it all. Trusting Him with it all and through it all.

The Old Testament teaches that the Israelites conducted burnt offerings daily. It symbolized complete surrender to God on a daily basis... the fire symbolized purification. Of course, Christ's life and death and resurrection fullfilled all that and we don't have to offer burnt offerings anymore..... but it was a powerful symbol of daily surrender and trust.

Dog Gone Cute !

Oreo!


What a face!





OH, Dear! What a Face !!






I mean REALLY !






You just can't help but love this little face :-)

Daddy-Daughter Wii-Athon !!

Sports Wii is alot of fun !! Tshombe and Jordan REALLY got into the boxing game !

10 minutes into the game.....



20 minutes into the game.....

30 minutes into the game.......

45 minutes later...... VICTORY !!!!

Oh, SWEET VICTORY !!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS !! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!
HERE'S A PICTURE OF THE "CALM BEFORE THE STORM"!!





Jordan, as usual, played Santa and handed out all the presents. Primarily because she's the only one wide awake that had the energy, enthusiasm, and stamina to do it ;-)



Ooooooh, Nana, don't you look cute in your new winter poncho and hat !




Oh, Yes "Nails By Jordan" --- if this shirt wasn't made with her in mind than I don't know who?



I couldn't post every picture of every present opened b/c it would be a year long post. But I did have to get this one present.....


What could it be?

Is that a "oh, no you didn't" look? Surprised? Elated?....

Are you shocked, Boo? Totally overwhelmed?

Merry Christmas, Sweetheart -- enjoy your Wii :-)

Now what did Oreo get? A new ball!

And some new chewies!!




And look! The ASPCA/Humane Society brought Butterscotch some pretty bowls to eat out of. Now how did they know she was being taken care of at our house??? Hmmmmm....

Looks like she likes them :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT !!!

Growing Snow???

Grow Snow ?? Have you ever heard of such a thing?? Well, I guess if you live in a place where it never snows, you get a little desperate !!



Well, this is how you grow snow....


Put a cap full of this stuff in a some water...

Add it slowly.....

And "poof" it turns into snow !

It's even a little wet....

And cold --- but it wouldn't roll into a ball.

Oh, well. I guess it's the next best thing.

Christmas Eve !!

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to open our stockings !! Yes, those are Oreo's stockings. What? She's part of the family too ;-)

Jordan & Nana got a sleeping mask....

And toe socks....

And punching Santas -- LOL !!

Little Orphan..... Butterscotch????

I've intended to post pictures of our neighborhood orphan..... Butterscotch. That's the name Jordan gave her.

She hangs out in our sun room. (Yes, that's Oreo's bed. Oreo gave it to her.)


Apparantly, right before we moved here. The neighbors beside us moved out in the middle of the night and left their two cats. Sad, huh. Another neighbor of ours that lives about eight houses down from us, rides his bike over every morning and puts out a big bowl of dried cat food for them. They live outside now.

But about 5 weeks ago, when the temperature hit 39 degrees outside. We heard this cat meowing at the door. It was very sad to hear. Then add to that a 12 year old girl sobbing and begging me not to let the cat die a slow horrible, miserable, death.

I mean, really, what was I to do ??? Butterscotch isn't allowed into the rest of the house. She's perfectly content in the sunroom with the bed and an occassional scratch behind the ear.

Christmas, Christmas Everywhere!

Just wanted to show you that even my car has Christmas Spirit !

We have spirit yes we do !! We have spirit how 'bout you?

Bake-A-Thon 2009

Walnut Balls.
Need I say more?

Nana is on a bake-a-thon this week. She's digging up her mother's Christmas cookie recipes and baking some for her brothers. And since she lives with us, we get to have one or two ;-)

So, besides baking Hay Stacks, Frozen Oatmeal Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Bars, she baked some Walnut Balls. All I can say is ....... thanks Grandma for the recipe :-)



First you have to mix the batter.

Then let Jordan taste it to make sure that it tastes good.

That's her job.




Then crack an egg, separating the yolk and leaving the egg white in the bowl.







Then roll the batter into small balls of dough and dip them into the egg whites and then dip them into the walnut pieces. Getting the ball smothered and covered in walnut pieces.





Line the balls on a cookie tray and press your thumb into the center of the ball.

Then put a teaspoon of Red Raspberry Preserves into the thumb print. Then put them in the oven and lean back and enjoy the Heavenly smell.

Then let Jordan taste one to make sure that it tastes good before packaging them up and mailing them off.

Then package and mail the ones that we didn't get to. LOL !

Merry Christmas from our kitchen to yours !

First Band Concert !

Jordan performed in her first band concert of the year. She plays the French Horn taking after her Nana. They did a great job and sounded really good!

Tshombe and I both played the trumpet. Watching the concert brought back some great memories.

Thank you Lord for creating music!

ps -- sorry for the blurry pictures -- I was using my cellphone camera :-(