My Blog...a work in progress!

Well, you can see that I am in the middle of making some changes on my blog and it has gotten way too late...so I must call it a day or I should say a night since it is way too late for me to be up doing this!

Check back soon and just maybe I will have a little more done:)

Merry CHRISTmas!

JESUS

King of Kings
Lord of Lords
Righteous, Holy Pure
Messiah, Teacher, Redeemer
God Incarnate,
the only Savior
Our Only Hope

The Foundation of Our Christmas Peace
is not in us
but in Christ,
not in our holiness
but in His righteousness,
not in our walking
but in
His Blood & suffering

He was born to die...

to take away the sins of the world...

to live again...

"that whoever belives in Him

will have life everlasting"

God Bless You & Your Family
This Christmas!

Elf Dance

Be sure to scroll down to near the bottom of my blog and click on the stop icon to stop my music playlist so you can hear the music on this dancing elf video.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

a Christmas letter from Jesus...

An email has been circulating with this letter. It makes me smile. Thought you might enjoy it too.

Dear Children,
It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season.
Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime, how I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own.
I don’t care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just get along and love one another.
Now, having said that let Me go on.
If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn’t allow a scene depicting My birth, then put a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all my followers did that there wouldn’t be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.
Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree.
Decorate a grapevine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten, look up John 15:1-8.
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is My wish list. Choose something from it:
1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time. 2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don’t have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them. 3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don’t you write and tell him that you’ll be praying for him and his family. 4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can’t afford and they don’t need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them. 5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her. 6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don’t know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference. 7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren’t allowed to wish you a “Merry Christmas” that doesn’t keep you from wishing them one. 8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary– especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name. 9. Here’s a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no “Christmas” tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don’t know them, buy some food and gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Believer. Don’t do things in secret that you wouldn’t do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.
Don’t forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to to. I’ll take care of all the rest.
Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I’ll help you, but the ball is now in your court.
Do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember:
I Love you, Jesus

Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are My disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."-John 13:34-35

How to Make Your Own Laundry Soap

Like Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar (from TLC's 17 Kids and Counting)

Whether you have sensitive skin or just a desire to save money on household necessities, making your own laundry detergent like the Duggar family does is a simple project that you can whip up in your own kitchen. When you make your own detergent, you leave out the chemicals that manufactures use in theirs, AND your savings will be astronomical (I know one lady who spent less than $10 for an entire year's worth of laundry detergent because she made her own). Here's a simple-to-follow recipe that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar use to make their own laundry soap.

Things You’ll Need:
1/3 Bar of soap (most people use Fels Naptha or Zote, but you can also use Ivory Soap)
3 pints of hot water
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax
3 pints of water
2 gallon container with lid
1 quart of hot water
More hot water
Sauce pan

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions:
Step 1 - Grate your bar of soap. (It's easier if you use a crank grater. If you use a regular box or flat grater, watch your fingers!)
Step 2 - Mix the grated soap and 3 pints of water in a sauce pan on low heat, until the soap gratings have dissolved.
Step 3 - Stir in washing soda.
Step 4 - Stir in Borax.
Step 5 - Stir until thickened.
Step 6 - Remove from heat.
Step 7 - Add 1 quart of hot water to the 2 gallon container.
Step 8 - Add the soap mixture to the container.
Step 9 - Mix well. (If your container has a wide mouth, use a stirrer. If it has a narrow mouth, put the lid on and shake it.)
Step 10 - Add more hot water to the container until it's almost full, leaving just enough room to mix it.
Step 11 - Mix once more.
Step 12 - Let the mixture set for 24 hours, or until it has thickened.
Step 13 - Use to clean your laundry, using 1/2 cup per full load.

Here is another recipe:
Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent:
1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 cup washing soda (Arm and Hammer, NOT baking soda though!!)
1/2 cup 20 mule team borax
Mix and store in airtight container or bag. For normal loads, use 2 tablespoon. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons.

I have not tried this yet, but I am thinking about making the powdered detergent.
I'll let you know:)

Think About It...

Christians have bumper stickers and catch phrases.
Believers have creeds and promises.
Disciples have scars and stories.

Why Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh?

Gold was a royal gift given to kings, or in this case the 'King of Kings'.

Frankincense was used by priests, reminding us that the Lord Jesus was to become our 'Great High Priest'. Like Melchisedic, He was to be both a Priest and king.

Myrrh was an embalming spice used in the burial of the dead, reminding us that Jesus came for a purpose, to die as a 'sacrificial lamb' for the sins of the world.

Macey Saramae Schubert

1 Corinthians 13 Christmas Style

This devotional and poem are written by Sharon Jaynes of Girlfriends of God

Friend to Friend: With Christmas just around the corner, it is easy to get so busy with the cooking, decorating and shopping that we forget why we're doing all this in the first place. Sometimes, the very people we love get lost in the hustle and bustle of packed schedules, holiday parties, and Christmas musicals. This Christmas, let's keep our focus on Jesus and celebrate the reason He came.
Today, I want to share a poem that I wrote a few years ago that helps me keep a proper perspective.

1 Corinthians 13 Christmas Style ©By Sharon Jaynes
If I decorate my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family - I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family - I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family - It profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never fails. Video games will break; pearl necklaces will be lost; golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

Let's Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, that starry night in Bethlehem. Like the Shepherds, I am still amazed at Your great love. May I not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas, but celebrate Jesus' birthday with joy! In Jesus' Name, Amen

Now It's Your Turn: What are some ways that you can make sure to love your family well this holiday season? Are there any activities that you need to eliminate from your busy schedule to alleviate over-commitment? Is your family being neglected because of a hectic Christmas schedule? If that question wasn't painful enough, here's another one. Is Jesus being neglected as you prepare for His birthday? Ouch! I just stomped on my own toe!

More From The Girlfriends: It is hard not to get caught up in the pre-Christmas swirl of activity and to lose focus of what's important. If you would like ways to keep Jesus the focus of your holiday season, you'll love Celebrating a Christ Centered Christmas by Sharon Jaynes. It's packed with helpful ideas and inspiration.

Are you a Christmas Light Person?

Then you'll get a big kick out of this:)

Hubby sent me this email. I just luv it...cause I'm a Christmas light person who has given up on ever having my dream Christmas light display...ever:) And that's alright...I'm good with it now:)

Hubby has tried, but he is just not a Christmas light person perse:)

Click HERE to see some amazing Dancing Christmas Tree Lights. Keep watching this video...it starts out slow, but will get you hoppin as it gets going:) You will enjoy it:)

Our Little Elf...

Just TOO CUTE not to share:)

Gson, Camden:)

Personalized Stocking Ornaments

I have been steadily making these "in the hoop stocking ornaments" on my embroidery machine for my 14 gchildren!

How fun to personalize each one for them...they are all one-of-a-kind...

for each one of our gchildren are one-of-a-kind...uniquely and wonderfully made by God.

Check these out at: http://www.pol-creations.blogspot.com/

(there are 14 designs in this design pack)

Away in a Manger...

The window from which we look...

A young couple moves
into a new neighborhood.
The next morning while
they are eating breakfast,
the young woman sees
her neighbor hanging
the wash outside.

"That laundry is not
very clean", she said,
"She doesn't know
how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs
better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on,
but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a
nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?"

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

You find out intersting things when you have sons, like:

1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3. A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.
11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject "PB & J" sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16 Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin , TX has a 5-minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.
25. 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

Friends...

Happiness keeps you sweet.

Trials keep you strong.

Sorrows keep you human.

Life keeps you humble.

Success keeps you glowing.

But, only Friends

Keep you going.

A Christmas Pageant Story

My husband & I had been happily married for five years

but hadn't been blessed with a baby.

I decided to do some serious praying and

promised God that if he would give us a child,

I would be a perfect mother,

love it with all my heart and

raise it with His word as my guide.

God answered my prayers and

blessed us with a son.

The next year God blessed us

with another son.

The following year,

He blessed us with yet another son.

The year after that

we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been

blessed right into poverty.

We now had four children,

and the oldest was only four years old.

I learned never to ask God

for anything unless I meant it.

As a minister once told me,

"If you pray for rain,

make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses of the Bible

to the children each day as they lay in their cribs.

I was off to a good start.

God had entrusted me with four children

and I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the day the

children smashed two dozen eggs on the

kitchen floor searching for baby chicks.

I tried to be understanding...when

they started a hotel for homeless

frogs in the spare bedroom,

although it took me nearly two hours

to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup

all over herself and rolled up in a

blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog,

I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.

In spite of changing over

twenty-five thousand diapers,

never eating a hot meal and

never sleeping for more

than thirty minutes at a time,

I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be

a perfect mother -I didn't even come close...

I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.

I knew I was missing the mark just

a little when I told my daughter

we were going to church to worship God,

and she wanted to bring a bar of soap

along to"wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation

when I explained that God gave us everlasting life,

and my son thought it was generous of God

to give us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came

during the children's Christmas pageant.

My daughter was playing Mary,

two of my sons were shepherds and

my youngest son was a wise man.

This was their moment to shine.

My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line,

"We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes."

But he was nervous and said, "The baby

was wrapped in wrinkled clothes."

My four-year-old "Mary" said,

"That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly.
That's dirty, rotten clothes."

A wrestling match broke out

between Mary and the shepherd

and was stopped by an angel,

who bent her halo and lost her left wing.

I slouched a little lower in my seat

when Mary dropped the doll representing

Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle

crying, "Mama-mama."

Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up

and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward wearing

a bathrobe and a paper crown,

knelt at the manger and announced,

"We are the three wise men, and we are

bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur.

"The congregation dissolved into laughter,

and the pageant got a standing ovation.

"I've never enjoyed a Christmas program

as much as this one," laughed the pastor,

wiping tears from his eyes. "For the rest

of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story

without thinking of gold, common sense and fur."

"My children are my pride and my joy

and my greatest blessing," I said as I dug

through my purse for an aspirin.

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

The Best Way...

to eat a bowl of cereal & milk

when you are 2!

Grandson, Dakota

This was just too cute not to share.