A Quick Post

...simply for the sake of not falling too far behind. ;-)

First of all, THANK YOU to all who prayed or left a word of advice on our fearful child predicament. Friday night was a really rough one. Worst ever, maybe. To make a long story short, I didn't actually get to sleep until about 4:00 in the morning. It wasn't all due to Joe (those dippy calendars and my "one page a day" commitment kept me up way too late, for starters!), but the last hour or two was! James and I talked about it the next day and discussed some options, and I called and talked to Dad, too. I told Joe that I mentioned his problem on the blog and asked people to pray and he seemed to be very glad to know people where out there praying for him. Along with praying for him, Granddad said to get him a flashlight he could sleep with so that when he thinks he sees something scary he can turn the light on and see that there's really nothing there. I'm not sure he's even had to use it yet, so that's good! I showed Joe my blog earlier today and he read through all of the comments everybody left. I made sure he read Brother Donnie's comment, then I told him about what a great big, strong, manly guy Brother Donnie is (hope that's okay! Ha!) and not to beat himself up too much over being scared--even big, burly men struggle with fear sometimes; it doesn't necessarily mean they're sissies. Anyway, Joe didn't have any problems going to sleep last night or tonight, so I'm SOOOOOO thankful! To God for His help in this matter, and to those of you who prayed for Joe or who left a comment--they were a great encouragement to him. :-)

Anyway, after my way-too-late night on Friday, I was WIPED OUT yesterday! Had a really hard time getting up the energy to accomplish much. The day just sort of drug on and school seemed especially slow. I left at about 2:00 to go shopping in Edgewood and get the stuff I was needing for my baking that night. Got home and spent the evening making two batches of poppyseed bread, a double batch of Christmas cookies, and some punch to freeze. I was too exhausted to stay up and make the pumpkin pies, so I called it a night sometime before midnight.

We got up and rushed in circles, finally leaving late for church but managed to get there on time anyway. We had good Sunday School--the kids and I made some really fun "kings" (wise men, really) and talked about seeking Jesus like they did. We had good song service and a good sermon, grabbed a quick bite at KFC on the way home, and got back to work! I made the pies I had failed to make last night and got the house all cleaned up, practiced a skit with the kids for service tonight and printed out and practiced the Christmas songs we would be singing.

It was Sister Galaviz's ABM service tonight here at our house, which I LOVE. I just love having people here for any reason; especially a church service. I was really blessed by the verses she shared from Revelation about the worship in heaven and declaring "THOU ART WORTHY"--it just makes my heart want to join in and worship, too, you know?! It was good. I muddled through the Christmas songs as well as I could (they are SO HARD to play!) and the kids' skit/story was good, I think. We had a good prayer, then enjoyed all the refreshments I'd made, along with a meat and cheese tray and some of Emilee's hearthside cider. YUM!

We have service at 5:00 on Sundays here, so it was really weird that everything was all over with and everybody was gone by 6:45! That's what happens when you have a church full of old people--or when the one who is more fun-inclined and might enjoy playing a game happens to be riding with all of the older people. ;-) But I can't complain. I had a full week's worth of fun and games with the Hays, then another 3 or 4 days with Mom & Dad and Jon & Em--and I milked it for all it was worth! I'm blessed. :-)

Since it was so early, we all piled on the bed and watched It's a Wonderful Life on the laptop. It was a first for the kids and I'm not real sure what they thought of it. Joe freaks out any time anybody kisses anybody, even just a peck on the cheek, and nobody could quite figure out what the "aliens" were doing (remember at the beginning when Clarence and Joseph are talking and they are like two stars twinkling each time they speak? My kids were just sure they must be aliens!) and they didn't buy the "angel" thing at all. When it was all said and done Joe said, "I don't get it. Why is that called a Christmas movie??? That has nothing to do with Christmas!" ~sigh~ Kids. ;-)

We put the kids down and I drug out all of my STUFF and did another page on the calendars. I had taken last night off--too much to get done for the ABM service and too little energy after the sleepless night before! January-March is now completed and I feel about this page like I do the others: EH. It's okay, but nothing truly grand. Still, it takes me just about three hours every night, so by the time I'm done I will have poured 36 hours into this project... CRAZY. I'm having fun doing it, but not nearly as much fun as the other times I've done it! Always before I've gone in with a plan, knowing exactly what I was going to do on each page, which pictures were going where, what papers and colors and stamps--I've always had a little blueprint drawn up of each page and what it will look like. This time I'm just winging it! Sitting down and seeing what happens. It makes it not quite as fun, takes twice as long, and I'm not as pleased with the finished product I'm getting. Still, I'm happy to have the opportunity to DO them again! It's my one time of the year to sit down and do something creative like this and THAT I love. :-)

Okay, I'm up way too late again. Hope you all had a wonderful Sunday and God blessed your services mightily! Until next time...