Christmas is Still Coming!

We're looking forward to having our Christmas this Saturday with our kids!! Kelli's and Megan's will arrive later on Friday and we'll party all day on Saturday...YAY!!!!!! First, though, we have to get Tru feeling better...poor little guy...it's his turn to have pneumonia! Get well fast, buddy!!! We're praying all of you travel safe and are well for the weekend!

Thought for the day

I love this verse from The Message.
Matthew 7:24 "These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on." It's easy to start taking familiar passages for granted and to feel like you already know what it says and you've "got it". But when I read it worded from a different perspective it always takes on new life. This reminds me not to take the words of Christ lightly just because they're familiar. Every word He says is a word I need in my life. If I let it pass by me I lose the opportunity to let God do His work in my life. I need to pay more attention and be alert and aware of what God may be saying to me when I read His word!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!! This has been a memorable Christmas...blizzard, cancelled plans, Jon working. It's been just Logan and me hanging out yesterday and today...the same tomorrow and Sunday, no doubt. The snow and wind have been unbelievable with more coming tonight and tomorrow. Holthe's and Melby's all stayed home...smart choice. Culver's are in Winfield until they pick the best time to go back to West Des Moines. So all of us are safe and warm except for poor Jon working all the time. He said they probably have more people out of power tonight than they had last night. What a helpless feeling. Please pray for the safety of all the people who are working to keep us safe, warm, and dug out again!!!! Here are a few pix from my day.

Plan B

Now we're thinking that we may wait till New Year's weekend to have our Christmas if that works for everyone. At least that's plan B. But there are other options...

Jon and Kelli and the girls won't be making the trip this weekend. I'm not sure Megan and Greg will even be able to get here.

Pray for the Week Ahead!

Today we were home all day...well, I was. Jon went over to the shop for the afternoon. He's still working on trying to put in a remote start on the Suzuki. He has a ton of hours in it...so wishes he had hired it done. I cleaned, baked, and listened to lots of great music. It's getting close. I'm done shopping but still have some wrapping to do.

Mom had a stomach virus and ended up in the hospital for dehydration. She was MUCH better after a 24 hour stay and is home again doing okay.

The weather looks dicey for the week ahead. Pray for clear roads and weather!!! Pray, too, that Emmy gets much better and no one else gets sick!! My stomach is off tonight...don't need that!!

More Ills

Today was a blur. We said goodbye to Daryl this morning and both went to work. At 10:30 my mom called me and wanted to know where I was. She had called my sister's house 2 hours earlier wanting to go the the ER. They were both sick with the same stomach virus and told her to call me. She got in confused and thought THEY were going to call me, so she'd been waiting for me to show up for 2 hours...not a happy camper. She was mostly just dehydrated, and her blood pressure was high. They admitted here at least overnight to get her fluids up and her blood pressure down. In the meantime, I went and got all her meds refilled. After work I went to see her then went to her house to clean floors and gather sheets and towels for the laundry. I'm tired. We'll see if they really let her go home...I don't think she's really going to be ready to be on her own.

Emmy is not handling her steroid so well...cutting it back to half to see if that goes better. Pray that she (and the rest of the family) are well enough to enjoy Christmas. Jon's one med was doubled yesterday to hopefully give him more relief in his arm so he can sleep better and have less pain overall.

Thought for the day

We are shot. Going to bed!

Surprise Visit

Surprise! We got a phone call tonight from a friend who was coming into town and needed to crash here. Daryl was in the area for a family thing so we get a chance to visit! My shopping is all done, and now I'm waiting for things to arrive so I can finish wrapping. I still need to use up a vacation day, but I haven't figured out how to fit that in yet. It's still a little crazy at work...not so much for me but others are still under some pressure which means it's harder for me to be gone. I still have things to do before next weekend, but it will work out fine.

Keep praying for Emmy...poor little thing has asthma and pneumonia. Lots of rest and meds for the next while. We will need to take it pretty easy with her when they're here and help her mend. At least Kelli understands all of this better than her mother did! She knows just how it feels.

Thought for the day

Any new plan for keeping Christ in Christmas? We'll be doing our birthday cake for Jesus again. I'm always open to suggestions!

Preparations

It's been a busy weekend. On Saturday Tabbi and the boys were here for a few hours. After they went home I did some wrapping. This morning we went to church and since then I've been baking buns and peanut blossoms. Actually, the "buns" are still just dough in the bowl, but it's time to make them into buns and bake!

I hope you have had a great weekend! I got to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" last night while wrapping...YAY!!! Well, time to get back to work!

Thought for the day

By the way, God does still give gifts of healing, word of knowledge, tongues, and prophecy no matter what a preacher says from the pulpit! He still speaks and works through people filled with His Holy Spirit. Read your Bible and believe what it says instead of listening to any person that tries to construe it into something it's not!!!

Reading Plan

Today I finally got caught up at work. Harvest is winding down, and the stress level is going down. I really enjoyed a snow day home yesterday. I did laundry, cleaned, and made M&M pretzels. I'm getting closer to having my shopping done. My plan is to completely finish shopping this weekend either online or in the city. I probably have some more cards to finish, and I haven't started wrapping. But I promise to have everything ready by the big day!!!

I'm thinking about my plan for devotions for the coming year. What I've been doing the last two years is I divided the Bible into 5 sections: Old Testament history, Poetry, Prophets, Gospels and Acts, and Epistles and Revelation. I started the sections at the same time reading 2 chapters at a time in Old Testament history, 1 in Poetry, 1 in Prophets, and 1 in either Gospels and Acts or Epistles and Revelation. I didn't get to every section each time I read. If you read this amount every day you can finish in one year with time to spare for missing weekends and other days. I took me 2 years to get through. I have lots of plans for getting through in a year, but this was less pressing (obviously). When you finish any section you just start it over. What I like is you get passages from different sections instead of feeling like you're in the Old Testament forever. I would alternate Gospels and Epistles...Matthew, then Romans, then Mark, then 1 Corinthians, etc. I do that because it can be long to read all four Gospels back to back. You do finish the sections at different times, but they are pretty close. I'm still not sure whether I'll stay with this plan for the coming year or not, but I'm always open to suggestions!!!

Thought for the day

The Bible is worth investing time in...not just because it's good material. It actually is a gateway to God's heart. The goal is not to master the book but to know and fellowship with the Creator.

Catching Up

I'm catching up a little...I put up my tree and decorations on Saturday and wrote some cards on Sunday. I may be cutting back on the number of cards this year, we'll see. I've done some more online shopping and it's starting to look more manageable.

We got snow dumped here today...probably 6 plus inches already with the more intense blizzard conditions still coming overnight and tomorrow morning. It's definitely a winter wonderland out there!! Tonight around midnight we're supposed to get the 30-40 mile and hour winds that may bring trouble. Jon's on call, so pray for his safety! All the schools in a huge area are called off and LOTS of other places closed and stuff cancelled.

Thought for the day

Snow day tomorrow...thanks, God!!

Falling Behind

It's been a busy week with a busy weekend ahead. I've been working some longer hours getting out statements and catching up on corn records. The late harvest has really put me back in getting ready for Christmas. I went to my ladies' group Wednesday night. Last night we went to Tre's and Tru's school Christmas program...an eventful one...more details later. Tonight we went to a retirement party for one of Jon's coworkers. Tomorrow I go to Tre's basketball game, and tomorrow night we go to my Christmas party. Sometime I have to get my tree up and the rest of my decorations. I need to work on cards and letters, too. Plus, I have shopping to finish...eek!! How are all of you doing?

I'm determined to be more "aware" of Christ this Christmas, but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed that I'm already behind. I need a great strategy! Any suggestions? I'm also thinking I need to get up earlier in the morning...I'm losing ground on my quiet time with getting everything else done. It would help if I could go to bed earlier, but that would require eating supper earlier which would mean I need to get off work sooner, and so it goes. I feel a little out of control...I sure hope God is in control! I guess that's my thought for the day!