Children's Christmas Tea

They quite enjoyed the "soda" (that's what they were calling it) and the food... there were finger sandwiches in PB&J, turkey & cheese, and egg salad, also chocolate covered strawberries, grapes, "ants on a log", and scones :o)

JJ did want to color, she was waiting patiently for her craft - I'll blog that later :o)

B.Boy just wanted to play on his chair - that's my boy!

There is JJ praying fervently!
And B.Boy trying to follow suit.
Here they are watching an awesome little puppet show of the Christmas story!
Here is the star JJ put on the Christmas tree... I asked her why she loved Jesus and that is what she said *shoulder shrugging* ... okay!

I took them outside afterwards to get some playtime in...

JJ was so cute playing in that pretty dress of hers! And B.Boy did very well on the big swing by himself! All in all a nice day!

Getting to Know me - Christmas Style!

I got this in an email from one of my friends and I thought I would answer it on my blog... you can play along if you'd like, but if you do be sure to leave a comment with a link so I can visit :o)...

• Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do... Just copy this email/post and paste into a new e-mail/post to share with others. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.... here's mine.....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Definitely wrapping paper (with handmade scrap-paper bows :o)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Definitely real - mostly preferred to cut one down :o) We got a tall one this year because our new house has high ceilings.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually we go get it the day after Thanksgiving and put it up that same day - this year we were a bit late :o)

4. When do you take the tree down? Hopefully by the New Year.

5. Favorite gift received as a child? My toy barbie stretch limousine with the spa in the back.

6. Hardest person to buy for? Anyone when you have no money.

7. Easiest person to buy for? My kids because they are so sweet - they would be happy to play with coal! lol

8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but it's not ever what anyone expects - it's very small!

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail and usually handmade as well, but this year God is teaching us to live without.... but I did get a beautiful handmade card from a missionary couple in Africa we pray for, look......

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Tangerines and walnuts.

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Maybe in October if I find the right thing for the right person.

12. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No - but I did receive an awesome recycled gift from a gift exchange last year....

13. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My grandma's peadogs (or at least that's what she calls them, I think they are really Pîrâgis)... it's a latvian food... I've always loved these things!!!! I need to learn how to make them like she does....

14. Lights on the tree? Yes definitely and in the rooms as well (thank you Mary).....

15. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did you Know and Carol of the Bells!

16. Travel at Christmas or stay home? My family would love to travel to the Snow around Christmastime, but on Christmas day we stay home.

17. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Doner, Blitzen, and Rudolf ... it's easy... I memorize songs way too well.

18. Angel on the tree top or a star? I would like a good looking star - but we have a crocheted and starched angel ;o)

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve with my side of the family at my Uncles house and Christmas morning with my own little family... Christmas day with my hubby's side of the family.

20. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Santa Claus! And how he seems to sound so much like God! You notice that he has a lot of names and seems to be all knowing and ever present - "he see's you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good".... that's worrisome!!!

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like my Mary had a little Lamb ornament - because He died for His flock! Amen!

22. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey just like Thanksgiving!

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? I would really like to have my wedding and engagement ring re-sized and plated with white gold but I know that is way too much to ask for!

24. Who is most likely to respond to this? Alicia :o)

• Now for some questions I would like to add...

1. Do you read the Christmas story from the Bible with family? Yes - usually my husband reads it and I love it when he does... last year my mother-in-law did.

2. What is your favorite Christmas movie? Mine is White Christmas. Vera-Ellen was an amazing dancer and I love Rosemary Clooney's voice!!

3. Do you pretend Santa for your kids - or do they know he is pretend? My kids are still pretty young but I always tell them that the story of Santa is just that - a story, but they know Jesus is real :o)

4. Do you hang stockings? Where and how? Yes - this year they are on my mantle! but previous years they would just be on a wall with command strips (I love those things!)

5. Does your family have any birthdays near Christmas? Yes - my sister Charleen and my daughter JJ.

Wordless Wednesday

My little one is standing!!! It's official... she's not just holding onto the couch for dear life, she also standing in her crib, at the toy basket, the table, and the baby gate! :o)

God gave me Another song :o)

'Whatever You're Doing' by Sanctus Real feels like the story of my life right now. I know I have been hearing it in the car for quite a while now but the words really didn't hit me till yesterday when I was driving alone to visit with friends at a Scrapbooking crop.

Here are the words and the video is below...

It's time for healing, time to move on.

It's time to fix whats been broken too long.

Time to make right, what has been wrong.

It's time to find my way to where I belong.

There's a wave that's crashing over me,

and all I can do is surrender.

Whatever you're doing inside of me,

it feels like chaos but somehow theres peace.

And it's hard to surrender to what I can't see,

but I'm giving into something heavenly.

time for a milestone, time to begin again,

re-evaluate who I really am.

Am I doing everything to follow your will?

I'm just climbing aimlessly over these hills.

So show me what it is you want from me,

I'd give everything, I surrender to...

Whatever you're doing inside of me.

It feels like chaos but somehow theres peace.

And though it's hard to surrender to what I can't see,

I'm giving into something heavenly.

Something heavenly...

Time to face up, clean this old house.

Time to breathe in, and let everything out,

that I've wanted to say, for so many years.

Time to release some of held back tears.

Whatever you're doing inside of me,

it feels like chaos but I believe...

You're up to something bigger than me,

larger than life, something heavenly.

Whatever you're doing inside of me,

it feels like chaos but now I can see...

This is something bigger than me,

larger than life, something heavenly.

Something heavenly...

It's time to face up, clean this old house.

Time to breathe in, and let everything out.

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You Found Me!

Here I am :o)

I am glad you made it! I hope you find your way around easily. I designed a new blog background to welcome you in for the holidays. You know me, I cannot just change blog homes and use a default design that someone else might have :o) I named this one the Loving Snowman - Snowball Masterpiece, lol.

I know, I know - let's see if I can get this one down before Spring springs on me! :o)

Be sure to find the "Follow This Blog" spot in my sidebar so I can visit you back... I love you guys! I'll post again soon, I promise!

Update on My Brother

I saw him today for the first time in 9 days! (In case you are wondering why so long - it is for reasons I chose not to control - probably the hardest trial I have ever been through right along with my lil brother almost dying a month ago!)He REALLY has come a VERY long way in just a month!And I know I have not updated you since I told you over 3 weeks ago (sorry). I will try to backtrack so you can get the full picture of things...

• After his MRI on the 31st they took the bolt and the stint out in his head, this meant they were no longer going to monitor the swelling in his brain (always a good sign when things like that are no longer needed). Also this was the day he was saying yes and no with his right-hand finger... he told my sister he knew Jesus loved him and that he loved Jesus!!!! (That is REALLY ALL that matters!)
• For a good couple days there he had a wicked temperature of 104 at the highest! God showed me that temperature really had to be broken - we were prayin'! He stopped moving around as much as he was at first, that was very hard to see, but I had faith God was moving in that fever!
• They had been telling us that the brain stem controls the coughing and gagging reflexes which they think he damaged, but Matthew had been coughing a lot already and we saw him gag a couple times.
• They were also saying they are not sure if Matthew will ever see, walk or speak again, they also mentioned possible hearing damage, but the good news was he was breathing above his vent machine, and he was by far off of a lot of the meds they had him on!
• On Nov. 4th he went into the O.R. to have a Tracheotomy so they could prepare him for his upcoming surgery to repair his shattered nose and the many broken bones in his face and jaw.
• On Nov. 6th his temperature went down (almost) to normal and he started Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy which he seemed to respond very well to. A friend of ours also thought he saw Matthew open his eyes a bit - but we had yet to see him "wake up".
• On the 7th he raised two fingers and made a thumbs up to the doctor and they got his temperature under control - praise God - the maker of heaven and earth!
• On the 8th he voluntarily moved his LEFT leg, a very good sign since this is the side he has been struggling to move.
• On the 9th I got news regarding prayers all over going up for my brother. From across the U.S. and Canada, but also in Latvia! over a Latvian radio station! This amazed me! And later on Czechoslovakia got added to the list of locations as well!
• Matthew's Maxillofacial Surgery was moved 5 times and eventually ended up at 1:00pm on Nov. 14th.
  • Before his surgery I was commenting on the fact that his face looked so good compared to the day he got there... it was amazing to just see how much the outside of his face was so untouched even though the inside remained in pieces. He was looking like him again. Though we knew the swelling and bruising would be another reality after his surgery.
  • His surgery lasted about 5 hours, they made two incisions on the outer sides of his eyes, they put small screws in to hold the bones back together, they packed his nose, he needed two units of blood during the procedure and he continued to bleed out his nose afterward for about 12 hours, his fever also went back up for a day or so.
  • While in the O.R. they did a Gastrostomy because they wired his jaw shut and can no longer have tubes running through his mouth or nose.
  • He got out of surgery in time for me to see him for about 5 minutes before visiting hours were over - I hated leaving him like that and ended up not being able to visit him till today!
• On the 19th Matthew tried to open his eyes!!! He wanted them open SOOO bad that he put his right arm up and took his eyelashes in his fingers and PULLED his eye open!!! (We still do not know if he can see, his eyes are still dilated and unresponsive.)
• On the 21st he was still trying to get his eyes open, they both opened about a quarter inch when he tried really hard. They also finally took his neck brace off and now he was saying yes and no by shaking his head!!!!! AND they sat him up in a special wheelchair and helped him stand up!!!! This ended up making him throw up, poor guy - vomiting with a trach and your jaw wired shut cannot be fun!
• The big news - HE CAN SEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • My sister waved at him when she went into his room and he waved back!!! He rubbed my little neice on her head. He reached for a stuft animal many times over without being told where it was. And he was playing peek-a-boo with one of my sister's kids!!!
  • God - You are AMAZING!!! Thank you for your grace and your lovingkindness towards my brother, thank you so much for healing him as fast as you are, and for giving a little more hope every simple day, we love You VERY much!!
• Finally - Today when I got there he was resting very well... I was glad at this because my sister said he had not been sleeping a lot. They moved him into a special chair and put it at the nurses station so they could put a big "tent" around his bed (because now he is moving so much he is a fall risk when no one is right next to him). Every time so far that they get him upright he gets sick, so they had him holding a bucket and he put it on his head, when I asked him if he was being funny he shook his head yes!! (I was so glad to see him like this!) They had to leave him in his chair for about 15 minutes so he did end up getting sick, but all the nurses were passing him by saying "Good for you Matthew!" for getting out of his bed and his room. After they put him into his "tent bed" he was so tuckered out that he took his sheet over his head with his right arm and feel asleep so you could barely see he was there! :o) Here's a picture...

• Also today I asked him if he wanted me to sing to him - now that he is answering yes and no I thought I should ask instead of just doing it like I did before - after all he is 13! He shook his head yes. While I was singing he put his fingers in my mouth and I thought he wanted me to stop because he was plugging my mouth. I asked him if he wanted me to stop and he shook no, so I kept singing (all worship songs of coarse!). When his nurse had to come do things for him I would scoot out of the way and stop singing. He would reach for me, I told him I was right there and I asked him what he wanted and he put his fingers to his mouth just like when he was putting them IN my mouth... so I asked him if he wanted me to keep singing and he shook yes. (I LOVED that!) When I sang him one last song before visiting hours were over I got closer to his face and he smiled at me!!!!!

(Melt my heart Jesus! Melt my heart!!!)

Though My Heart is Torn...

... I'll Praise You in this Storm by Casting Crowns.

Read the lyrics as you listen... nuff said through my current time of character building.......

Wordless Wednesday

My Brother's Hospital Window

God is By My Side

God put this song on my heart on Sunday when I was waiting in the car with my kids for my husband to pick up Pan Dulce for church that morning. I had never noticed it before then, but it seems now the words were calling straight to my heart.

It's By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North

Thank you Lord for making Yourself known to me during probably the hardest time I have EVER known so far in my life. I know if it weren't for You my heart would have already fallen to pieces! Thank you for holding me!