Christmas...

If you had just one dollar to spend on each person in your family, what would you buy for them?

The day has arrived...

As I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord His deer to keep. If I should die before I wake , tell the deer they are finally safe








Yep...you guessed it, Thursday is opening day of gun hunting season. I myself have never been hunting, but I have a lot of friends who will be out at the crack of dawn tomorrow sitting in a blind or a tree, waiting for the perfect deer to come along. So I am praying for their safety, their success, and the safety of those of us who are driving, as deer are more apt to run across roads to get away from the hunters!

A HUNTER'S PRAYER
Dear Lord,

May all hunters be blessed with your grace.

To all who wander the fields and forests, may you guide them safely back to camp.

Thank you for the blessings of venison meat. Let the hunters always remember it is a gift from you.

Thank you also for the hunting knowledge, fellowship and outdoor experiences you give the hunters. May they always remember these blessings from you.

Amen.

An issue of modesty...

Sometimes I walk into church, and I feel like I should be at school, or in a night club. I see girls with low cut shirts, falling out of their shirts, or showing off their bare stomachs. This isn't so much of an issue on Sunday's as I have noticed it on Wednesday nights. Rhonda and I were talking about it at church yesterday. We are both astonished at what some parents let their kids wear out of the house--much less to church! Now, I can understand a girl (and this does apply to boys as well!) wanting to look nice, and in a way dress to impress. However, I think that this can be done without revealing so much of yourself...because we all know what kind of thoughts are provoked when too much skin is revealed. What kind of statement is a girl giving when she comes to church and youth group and tells her friends that she is a Christian, yet wears clothing that sends the opposite message, or dances provacatively to songs that are supposed to be praising God? I'll admit to falling into this trap, and dressing to impress...don't we all? There is a difference between dressing nicely and dressing like a...you know what I mean. I am seriously taking this to heart, and I will be careful with what I wear, so that I don't send out the wrong message. And I challenge you...as teenage girls or as mothers to be careful what message you are sending out.

Something smells fishy...

I don't like fish. I don't like the smell, I don't like the taste, and I don't like the texture. However, I do like to fish. And yes, when fishing with live bait, I will break the worm apart with my fingers. But that's getting off topic. Last night my mom was eating a piece of smoked salmon that my grandpa sent home with her. He caught it in the Pacific Ocean. Anyway, she offered me a piece and being brave, I took a small bite. It wasn't as bad as I expected. Not too fishy, but not something I would ever choose to eat more of. I thought that was the end of my fish adventure...not so. I got to work this morning and upon opening the door to the dirty laundry room, I was overwhelmed with the scent of fish. I washed the kitchen cloths but I could still smell it. Venturing out into the hallway, the smell was still present. And when I washed the clothes, I could smell fish on them too. Apparently dinner last night was fish. At times the smell of fish was so overpowering that I thought I would gag! Just another reason why I don't like fish. :)

Mixing the seasons....

I went shopping today...for Christmas presents!!! I always start early, and I am doing something different for gifts this year and needed started earlier than normal. I went to this fantastic dollar store, Keegstra's. If you've never been there, you gotta go! They have everything! You can even get Avon products, 20 pack boxes of Christmas cards, scrapbooking supplies etc there for only $1. Then I went to Meijer. And ran into triple trouble. I saw Mari, Cheri, and Terri as I was walking in. Mari took a picture for her blog. :) So at Meijer I bought items to make the following Fall goodies....









Gourmet caramel apples

















Caramel, milk chocolate, and white chocolate covered



































I bought this at the dollar store. All you have to do is add water and the mix magically rises into brownies. I gagged and had to spit it out when I ate it, but my mom said they weren't that bad, just extremely chocolately.













Chocolate filled crescent rolls

This date in history...

On this date in history, in 1965, the Pillsbury Doughboy made his debut. I thought I would share this picture of my favorite doughboy :) ...


Andy, Zack (the "doughboy"), Me, and Bethany all dressed up for the halloween costume party at youth group last year.





Also, in response to all the responses to yesterday's post...I know that Nate meant it as a compliment. However, if you had been there and seen his face after he realized what he said.... lol!!

On a more serious note...an update on my grandpa. He came through surgery okay. They ended up finding more tumors than they thought, which is very disappointing. He has another appointment in 3 weeks and they will decide the next move then. Thanks for all your prayers.

Poster Child

Tonight...I was called a poster child...
Hmmm... not really sure what to think :)
I was at the mission mobilization meeting at church, and we were talking about Romania and authentic and people talking about mission trips. Nate said that I was the perfect poster child....

Prayer request

Tomorrow my Grandpa is going to have surgery. He's been cancer-free for between 7 and 10 years I believe. But last month, they told him his cancer had returned. He has 3 cancerous spots in his bladder, but the surgery should be able to remove them. Please keep him in your prayers, that the surgery might be successful, and God will direct the hands of the surgeons who do the operation.
*Update on Monday morning*
Another prayer request. Mari called me this morning, and Heather is in the hospital. She will be having an emergency appendectomy sometime today.

To all good things must come an end...

The stands are crowded with cheering fans. The air is electrified with excitement. People chatter in eager anticipation. Others bundle up and cuddle with eachother to stay warm. Welcome to the high school football playoffs.
We made it...to week 2 of the playoffs. Allendale Falcons vs. West Catholic Falcons. Which Falcons will come come out on top? The answer became clear early on in the game. Though Allendale has an amazing team, we were no match for WC who easily over took us in the first half. Score at halftime was 24-0. Third quarter, they scored again. 31-0. But we were not so easily dissuaded. With 4:16 left in the third quarter, Allendale scored its first touchdown. (Ok, actually it's second, but the first didn't end up counting because there was a flag on the play.) After getting the two point conversion the score was 31-8. Could Allendale pull ahead in the last 16:16 of the game? Only time would tell. Our boys played hard, they didn't hand anything over to the WC Falcons, however as the clock ran out, the score remained at 31-8. The boys played a good game, though the same could not be said of the coaches. Errors were made and poeple were put in who should not have been, but what can be done? Life will go on. So, after 12 weeks of hard work, the football season has drawn to a close for the players of Allendale. Some disappointed, some more than ready to be done, but to all, good job and congratulations on a great season!








Kaylyn trying to stay warm...
We were freezing already and the game hadn't even started!

















Libby...she was warm the entire game, no coat or anything!
















Libby and me











Kaylyn and me...I was cold so when I took the picture the camera was shaking, sorry the picture is so blurry!











Pregame team warm-ups. Go Falcons!!!

Baking!!!

Today I got up bright and early...actually though, it wasn't bright. 4:15 is still pretty dark around here! But I digress, I got up, went to work, survived with no disasters, and made it home shortly after 10am. Then I started baking...and I still am, I just have stuff in the oven now. I made a banana bread, blueberry muffins, sugar cookies, M&M cookies, and stroopwafles (Dutch syrup waffles). It sure smells good in here!!! So I'm now just waiting for the next thing to go in the oven. Tonight I will go to the football game. We're playing West Catholic in the second week of playoffs. It should be a great game. We lost to them earlier this season, but that was the game where one of our star players was seriously injured, so I believe we have a really good chance tonight! Go Falcons!!!