a christmas craft day!!

A quote from Mercy, "Oh mom, you always think of the neatest things to do!!!"

A quote from Hosanna, " she got it off the internet!!"

Hey, what can I say!! I am set free now with Pinterest to "think" and come up with ideas!! I no longer have to use up my brain cells!!! But yes I have been collecting craft ideas for the little people and I am actually going to do some of them!!! How many have you done so far???? If I get real inspirational I am going to put all of the craft projects on a wall and it will be our "Christmas Gallery" of projects!! They LOVE doing stuff and to be honest, I like it too!! I really dont have  alot of crafty material so I had to gather some things as I went to Wal Mart. You dont have to DO Pinterest to crafts, just google!!! Ok, here it is!! A Jolly Snowman!!! He is made out of the large craft sticks and you can pretty much see how it goes! Tape 6 sticks together with duck tape on the back, draw a slanted line for the hat area to be painted black. Add some eyes, paint a carrott nose and a happy smile. Paint a separate stick for the brim of the hat then hot glue it on with a bit o-ribbon on top and a glittery "puff" ball and I added a string so we could hang the little guy up!! Now you have no excuses, get it going!!!

Now on to a Christmas Dessert I saw on Pinterest........YUM!!!!!!

 

Josiah, Hosanna, Mercy and Jeremiah!

and there you have it......a Jolly Snowman

Cindy

a note of thanks and what HE hath done!!

Only a few more days and we will be a the beginning of beginnings. December 4th, the "date" when it seemed like literally the floodgates of "hell" crashed down upon our lives. A day I will never forget and will live many times over as long as I have breath. A blanket of darkness that enshrouded my heart, my breath, my eyes.....a suffocating blackness like I had never experienced. Voices swirling around with resounding words that one would hope to never hear about their child......"cancer, life-threatening, procedures, shots, surgery's! Giggles and laughter turning into cries and wales of "no more mommy, it hurts mommy, hold me mommy, help me mommy!" It all visits me again, the "shadow of sickness/ death." Its been a long almost 5 years. How could it be? So much has been missed by you not being here. How could one even begin to breath/live again? Jesus, there is no other name above your name! Thats how.....Jesus! Slowly, slowly, prayer, cries, the Word, seeking, asking, others, love, and repeat all that over 5 year time frame and that is how! I have made it and only by His wonderful grace and mercy and seeking to trust that His plans are done in love for my good and His glory!! So many "God things" have transpired from this deep. I feel like personally I have and am learning truths of God that one could only learn through such trials. If I was asked to describe God in one word from this trial, it would be Faithful! Isn't that His very name? "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." Rev. 19:11 His judgements are true, that means to me that what he places on the scales is right, that means to me that His plans are right! My heart rests in that hope. In these almost 5 years, I know, I am sure that God's will has been done. Yes, I still grieve, yes I still cry and long and miss but a scripture in Isaiah 33:21 encourages my heart that its not all over with, even though Joel is not here any longer. God just didn't leave the scene and move on to the next prospect for a trial. Even now God still is working and has plans to unfold from Joel's story and life. "The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams." You see God has allowed Joel's story to travel "abroad like a river and streams." God has expanded in a way that is so broad that in our families lifetime I do not think we could have ever touched, helped, made contact with encouraged, come to know via the cyber world the numbers that a blog about a 3 yo little boy did!!! This has nothing to do with me or our family, it has everything to do about God and a little boy! And when I have the opportunity to see a visual because of a few numbers, then I am blessed! I am thankful to the Lord that its not over and everyday proves it! This is my 1009 post! And in these almost 5 years we have had over 205,000 viewers. I know thats not a huge amount but its an amount that I know our family could have never communicated with except through this way......a blog!! So, I want you all to know, we are so grateful for YOU!! Thank you for everything, your words, your tears, your encouragement, your help, your support, your love and much more!! I have literally become "friends" with so many of you even though we have not met in person. You all are a special part of my life and I enjoy sharing our life with you, I enjoy sharing what God has done with you and Lord willing I look forward to continuing to share what God has and is doing in our family!


May the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace!!


much love,

Cindy

travelers are back to my favorite place.......home!!!

  

headed South with 6 movies.......that should work!!!

 happy travelers!!! (most of em)

Good evening Texas, your sunsets are pretty!!!

almost there......where?????...... to grandmother and grandfathers house

one of the best things about the Thanksgiving trip.......these 2 flew in from MD!!!!

Wednesday, we went to Terry's high school gym and played vb!! an awesome gym!!!

we also stopped in at Terry's brother's batting cages! He is a trainer for guys and gals!

everyone tried out the equipment!! .......but all were VERY sore the next day!!!

Mercy liked the cool playground at the gym!!

vb rest!!

Wednesday eve, we had some playing going on in one room and...........

..........some dancing going on in the other room!!!!!

Pop and Nana were cutting some moves!!!!

the weather was incredible!!!

Jerry, my brother-in-law......well, he is just a little on the wild and crazy side!!!!

he brought up some wild turkey and pheasant that he had killed and smoked them as

appetizers!! They were awesome

so good to visit with folks we only see once a year!!

not only lotsa food, but lotsa football!!!!

Pop read a song before our Thanksgiving meal, "Precious Memories," so many wonderful

memories with people that were not there. He read all the names of family members who are with the Lord, that had once attended our Thanksgiving get together.......one was our little Joel!

WOW!!! sooooo much food!!! Thanks Nana for preparing all of it!!!

the doggies wanted to join in on the festivites of eating too, and I think they new

Pop would help them out.......we had our 2 doggies and Terry's sisters 3 doggies all in the house with

22 humans!!!! hahah!!!

craZy cousins!!!!!

of course I am going to take tons of pics of these two......i dont see them all the time!!!!

did they ever get separated?????? NO!!!! hahha!!!

must I continue lessons while on vacation????? Oh yes.........I dont think she minded at all!!!!

.......piano and singing lessons

if I could only bring the weather and these trees home!!!!!

well, its time to say so-long Texas!!!!!

 its time to leave the big city and go to my farm!!

i dont think I can say I will miss you....... you see I am a country gal!!!

so, Mr. Houston, take care of Texas for me!!!!!!

well, we almost made it home uneventfully........bu the doggies had to stop at Walmart

and do a little Black Friday shopping!!!!! (JUST KIDDING)

we had a battery problem, sooooooo it all worked out, well, except me chasing the little

brown dog through Wal mart because he jumped out of my arms as we sat on the bench!!!

 

 I even brought a Texas ornament home for our Oklahoma Cowboy Tree

.........farewell Texas!!!

I guess I will tell you the bad part of the trip!!! Wanna hear it?? Well, Tuesday in the am Mercy woke up throwing up!!! Terrible!!! So we did not leave until after lunch!!! She puked many times on the trip....ugh!!!! So by the time and late evening we got there she was doing fine!! But in the am Thursday morning Terry got it and puked ALL night long!!!! He was in the bed til way after lunch on Thursday!!! AND Jeremiah and his cousin Garrett (same age) got it and were sick ALL day Thursday too!!! Then Thursday evening and into the am this morning Joshua puked!!!! Now can you believe all that!? I felt not so well coming home but I hope it is staying away!! Terry and I and 6 of the younger ones came home today and the rest of the children are traveling back home tomorrow, so I hope they have missed it!!! YIKES!!!!

It was a fun time with family we do not see often and Kristen got to meet them!!! I dont think we scared her off!!!! I think she handled it all very well and she fit right in!!! 

Hope you all have a blessed weekend!!! I am looking forward to sleeping in my bed tonight!! Did you get the impression I like OKLAHOMA and being at home????? 

Blessings!!!

Cindy

instafriday!!!

Oh wow, instafriday on Black Friday!!!! I would so love to be out in the craziness, but I am not!!!! Wonder if anyone will be around today??? Oh well, we will go forward with phone pictures of the week!!!! Join us, just snap and capture your week with phone pics!!!! Its not hard at all!!!!

made another new dish this week, Saucy Pork chops! First time to ever cook pork chops!!!! They liked!!!

it was the first really cold Sunday last week!!!! Don't likey!!!!

a special place on our farm.....prints of everyone in our family, all 15 of us!!!!

a peek.....when I get the other tree ready, i will post some pictures!!!

Mercy's new girlie shoes to keep her warm in winter!!!

i have been eating these lately, can you believe Mercy likes them too?!

Thanks for stopping by!!! 

and hope you all survived Black Friday if you went out!!!

Cindy

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and remember those that are enjoying the wonders of eternity!!! We have so much to give thanks for!! I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you for keeping up with our family! It was this time in 2006 that our journey was beginning with Joel. We stayed home and did not travel to Houston because of the fevers Joel was experiencing! Our hearts were heavy with the "unknown" at this time 5 years a go. To even consider that his time on earth, his little story was coming to its end as Dec approached and Jan neared and we had no idea what lie ahead, I still grieve! I can hardly sit in church and hear a sermon like I heard last Sunday on God's Providence and hold back tears of grief, yet tears of hope and joy that all went according to God's divine plan for Joel! So today I am thankful for Plans, plans that are carried out in LOVE to each of us! I am thankful for Joel's life, for the time we had with him on this earth. I look forward to the day when "time" will turn into "forever!!"

So thank you for all you have done for and with our family via this blog, it was Joel's blog and I continue to pray that his little life will always be a light for hope!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Cindy

a sweet boy!!!

Remember Bethany going to Illinois a week or so ago?? She went to see her bestie friend, Danielle and to help with the baby while she had a gall bladder surgery.....eeeek!!!! (Danielle is doing good by the way!!!) Bethany was in her wedding and the last time Danielle and Aaron were here, she was prego!! Well, I meant to share a picture along time ago but i just totally forgot about it but when Bethany showed me these pictures I HAD to show you!!! Now this is what I call ADORABLE!!!! Meet Layton Russell and he is 3 1/2 months old now!!!! Bethany has just gone on and on how precious he is and I sure wanna meet this little guy so he can figure out what he will call me, hahah!!! I am so happy and proud of Danielle! I know many years ago and alot of long talks and alot of prayer and encouraging her that God would be Faithful to her in every area, like providing a godly husband and now a wonderful home and a gift of a baby boy in her life! Daniell's mom went to be with Lord Jan.3, 2007, just twenty days before Joel. She has known the great deep of grief and I think she would testify God has carried her every inch and I know she still misses her mom, but I think her lips would give praise to His providence and plans for all that has unfolded since 2007! Its a blessing to me to see a young woman come to know and find a hope in the Lord through such sore trials and now she has a testimony to tell others by His grace!!

Blessings are all around us.......may you Praise Him today as you hug your baby, play with your toddler, visit or talk to your mom on the phone. What a wonderful God we have!!

Cindy