Merry Christmas!!!

I hope that you have a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!!

In Canada

So here I am...in Canada :) Amazing how I can still blog right? ;)
Anyway, we left on Friday afternoon and made it here Friday evening. Yesterday we spent the day walking around Toronto. We took the GO train in and walked and walked and walked. But we had a good time. I'll post some pictures when I get home. I can't use the internet on my laptop because my Grandpa doesn't have a router...but anyway.
Today we went to church, this morning was the children's program and tonight was the candle light service. I really really missed our service at Lighthouse though!!! And I'm terribly disappointed that I have to miss the candlelight service at church tomorrow night!
It's been raining all day here, but it's cold now and they say it will change to snow later on. I saw that we had some pretty nasty wind and such at home. I hope my house is still standing!!!
Anyway, I believe they're waiting for me to start a game upstairs, so I better go! Good night!

Are you a sheep?

I read this the other night for my devotions. I really liked it and I thought I'd share it with you. It's from "Soul Journey 365 Days of Spiritual Inspiration". I must admit that it's the first devotional I've actually used for the complete year. Usually I get bored or don't like the one I use so I'm constantly switching, but I bought this one at the beginning of the year and now I only have 11 more days left! Anyway....here it is....

Cast-down Sheep
Phillip Keller, in his classic book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, gives a striking picture of the care and gentleness of the shepherd. When David said, "He restores my soul," he chose language that every shepherd would understand. A sheep is built in such a way, that if it falls over on its back, it is very difficult for it to get up again. In this position, it flails its legs in the air, bleats, and cries. After a few hours on it's back gas begins to collect in its stomach, the stomcah hardens, which cuts off the air passage, and the sheep suffocates. This position is called a cast-down position. A cast-down sheep needs a loving shepherd to restore it.
To restore a cast-down sheep takes time. The first thing the shepherd does is massage its four legs to restore circulation. Then while calmly reassuring the sheep with his voice, he gently turns it over, puts his hand under the sheep's belly, lifts it up, and holds it so it can gain its equilibruim. When the shepherd feels that the sheep can stand on its own, he lets the sheep go and watches it take a few faltering steps. He has restored a cast-down sheep.
What a picture of what God does for us! When we are on our back, flailing because of guilt, grief, and grudges, our loving Shepherd reassures us with His words. With His tender hands He lifts us and carries us until we've gained spiritual equilibrium.
Jesus wants to restore your soul. Let Him remove your guilt, reliever your grief, and replace your grudges. If you've been "cast down" for any reason, He's the only one who can help you get on your feet again. he is your confidence, joy, peace, and strength.

Scripture: Psalm 23
Meditate: Psalm 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters.
Destination Points: What has caused me to be in a cast-down position? How will I trust the Shepherd to restore my soul?
Bottom line: Like a shepherd, Jesus leads us.

Bine ati venit! Welkom! Bienvenidos! Welcome!

Welcome to my house! It's cold outside, so c'mon in and warm up!









We have some cute snowmen to welcome you to our home. The big one says "come on it, it's cold outside!"











If you go up those stairs to visit me, you'd be greeted by this wooden Christmas tree. I made it for my mom a few years ago.









Then let's head back downstairs to the living room. Here you get the full extent of my family's decorating!







We display all of our Christmas cards here. After Christmas, we put all the cards in a basket, and after dinner, we choose a card and pray for that family.











This is "my" part. I bought this house for my mom last year or the year before, and it's my favorite thing to set up each year.







We are very big into the St. Nicholas Villages. Here you can see just a sampling of the houses we have set up on top of our cabinets in the kitchen.





Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of my house!
Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Santa Clause is Comin' to Town

Today was my first day of no school! Yay! Except, I do have 2 exams to study for, so I did spend a little bit of time studying today. But I slept in....boy that felt nice! Then I watched Rachel Ray, which I never get to do because I'm at school. I studied somewhere along the way. I made some more White Chocolate Chex Mix, and some chocolate filled crescent rolls. Really good....all you do is buy regular (not butter) Pillsbury crescent rolls, put some milk chocolate chips on the wide end (you can use as many as you want), roll it up like normal, but seal the ends, and then bake as directed. Sprinkle with powdered sugar while they're still warm and you've got yourself a yummy breakfast or snack! Anyway, I had to go out and buy wrapping paper so I could finish wrapping presents. I planned on doing it by myself, but when my mom got home from work, she wanted me to wrap gifts with her, so I did. I had already done hers, but I had to do Nate's, Dad's, some for friends, and the gift for our exchange in Canada. Thanks for all the suggestions you gave me...I ended up buying a handheld Deal or No Deal. It looks like fun, and it's something I wouldn't mind getting myself! :) Plus, it's worth more than $10, and I got it for less than $10 (shhh! don't tell!) It took us a while to wrap the gifts, I actually don't mind wrapping them! I took some pictures of our tree with presents under it. This isn't even everything, because mom couldn't wrap my presents with me around!!!



In the dark, the lights really stand out











It does look pretty in the light too, you can see the ornaments better













This is the house ornament that I mentioned above as my favorite

A compliment a day...

Yesterday as I was walking out of the sanctuary at church I got a huge compliment from someone. All day when I remembered what he said to me, it made me feel really good! Then last night, someone else gave me another big compliment, and again it made me feel all "warm and fuzzy". So here's my challenge to you... give someone a sincere compliment today, it could make their day a whole lot better!!!!

Quick Update

My family arrived home safely around 5:40 this evening. They did take my advice and waited around Findlay for an hour. They said Ohio was a lot worse than Michigan, and the further west they came in Michigan, the less snow there was. So thank you for the prayers on their behalf.

The Christmas program tonight was wonderful! Jennifer and Kim were two of the five amazing ladies who helped coordinate the whole thing. Great job! It was kind of interactive and responsive on the part of the audience. The kids chorus would sing the first verse of each song they did and then the audience would join in for the rest of the song. The narrarator (Jennifer) asked some thought provoking questions at the end of each little segment. There were some amazing solos done by two very good friends of mine...but I'll let Jennifer tell you more on that! It was a great night to celebrate the birth of our Saviour!

Winter weather

Well, we got hit pretty well by old man winter last night. We have about 5 inches of snow at my house, and my friend said they have about 7 at his house, which is only 5 miles away! First service at church was cancelled this morning. I found out when I was about halfway thru getting ready. I had to be at church at 6:45 for praise team practice, but Chad called me and said first service was cancelled and practice would be at 8:45. So I went back to bed!! The service was packed and they had to keep on bringing in more chairs, which is a great problem to have!! Then tonight, we have our Christmas program, which I am super excited for! And I had a very nice surprise when I got home from church, I thought I would have to shovel the whole driveway, but a man from our church had come and plowed it, so now I just have to go do the sidewalks!! Thanks Jim!

I just got a phone call from my parents. They are around Findlay Ohio. I told them it was blue skies and sunny here, but it's blizzard conditions there. So I asked them why in the world they were still driving!?!? I check the radar for them, and it showed that the storm could be thru in about an hour or so, so I asked them to please find a mall or a store that they can wander thru to wait out the storm. Then my dad said that police were pulling people off the road because it was so bad...and they wanted to keep going!! Crazy family! Hopefully they will take my advice and stop for a while, better safe than sorry. If you could keep them in your prayers, that would be great!!!

Chicago and Michigan City

Yesterday I went to Chicago and Michigan City with my friend Alecia and her mom. We drove to Michigan City, and took the train from there to Chicago.











It took us only about 10 minutes to get her visa, and then it was time for shopping! We went to all kinds of places, Express, Levi's, Garrett Popcorn, and two "super malls". We went to Watertower Place, which has stores like Macy's (7 floors tall!!!), Hollister, Body Shop, Sephora, Lacoste, The Limited, and a lot more! We didn't buy anything because it was so expensive, but we had a great time looking around.








We didn't think that there was anywhere to eat in the mall (how wierd, a mall with no foodcourt?), but we were wrong, and found a foodcourt with 13 different eateries in it! I had a burger and fries, delicious!




From there we walked back down the Magnificant Mile and stopped at Chicago Place, it was surprisingly empty, but we stopped in Saks 5th Avenue and Love from Chicago. We went to the foodcourt, but didn't get anything because we were so full for lunch. Then we continued to the train station, it took about 2 hours to get back to Michigan City where we planned to go outlet shopping at Lighthouse Place Outlets. There were so many stores, it would have been impossible to go to every one. A few we went to were Hollister (it was awesome because everything was cheap!!), The Gap, Vanity Fair, Old Navy, Adidas, Aeropostale, Ralph Lauren, Izod, Tommy Hilfiger, Bath and Body Works, and Lancome. I didn't really have anything I was looking for, but I bought some clothes from Hollister and Old Navy, lotion from Bath and Body Works, and some Ralph Lauren perfume (that I've wanted for 3 years!!) from Lancome. I got some really good deals, and am very happy with what I bought! We didn't leave until about 9, then we stopped at Taco Bell for dinner, and we didn't get home until 11:10. I actually made it to bed by 11:30, because I had to get up at 4:10 for work today! When I got home from work around 12, I took a nap, when I woke up, the clock said 5:37!!! I had slept for over 5 hours! Now I just made some Christmas cookies and am on the hunt for something for dinner....then I'm going to watch a movie and eat some gourmet popcorn!!!

The next few days...

Yay! School is over for the week! Now I don't have to think about it until Monday...oops, I should probably study sometime over the weekend! :)
Anyway, I'm very excited because tomorrow I am going to Chicago! My friend Alecia, needs to go get her visa, so I'm going with her. We're driving to Michigan City, then taking the train to Chicago. We'll go to the Embassy or wherever to get the visa, then SHOPPING!!! When we're sick of Chicago, we'll go back to Michigan City and hit the outlet stores there! I don't really have anything in particular that I'm shopping for, but I got about $150 from selling books back (pretty good for only 3 books!)
Then I have the weekend to myself! The rest of my family is leaving tomorrow for Kentucky for the family Christmas party. I'm not going because I'm going to Chicago, working Saturday morning, singing for praise team, and teaching Sunday School. So other than working Saturday morning, I have the rest of the weekend to do....something... :)
I'll post pictures and stories about Chicago when I get back!!!