If it is going to be cold, Let it Snow

We woke up to a snow covered ground on Monday morning. Below is a picture of the beautiful sunrise that I enjoyed while a drank my coffee. (Look Daddy.. I do see the sunrise!!)


After breakfast, we all headed out to play. I do more picture taking than playing. Jeff forbids the children to hit him in the back of the neck with a snowball, and the kids all have a great time.

This is Hannah thinking that she can pull Andrew on the sled.

Andrew loves for me to take his picture. He never complains when I ask him to pose. Thanks son!!

Sierra on the other hand, doesn't like to have her picture taken. Can't you tell!!

Jeff and I are just too cold to smile. After this photo, I went in to make hot chocolate.

Hopefully, it is days like this that our children will remember.

Winter Fun

Last week, our weather got down into the teens. It didn't get reach 20 degrees for 2 days. Jeff and our next door neighbor decided to ice the driveway. The neighbors drive was chosen because we have a fence at the bottom of our drive. The first evening,the women and little girls stayed inside. The others had a lot of fun until Jeff broke his knuckle. Yes, it is still blue and painful.

The next day, everyone joined in the fun. Of course, Jeff made Sierra and Andrew were their helmets. Way to go 'Safety Dad'.

Andrew decided to slide on his belly, back, and knees. At the top of the drive he was on his bottom. He had lots of fun!!

Whoever said that you couldn't use a plastic pool in the Winter. This is snow tubing at it best!! Sierra is taking a ride down the drive.

Hannah even got in on the action. Of course, Jeff didn't let her start at the top.

I was not about to let the children have all the fun. I laughed all the way to the bottom.

Thanks for a great Winter's Day!!

Problem... Cloudy Tea

Have you every had cloudy tea? Have you ever made tea that turned cloudy?

Being raised in the south, we just love our SWEET Tea. This is one of my weaknesses. I have tried drinking unsweet or decaf but if I have to do that I just assume not drink tea. I know that tea is not an addiction for me because I can go without it. When I nursed Sierra and Hannah, I couldn't drink tea. Anyway, back to the point.

I have always made really good tea with the help of my Mr. Coffee Tea Maker. Well, several months ago, we noticed that my tea tasted odd. If you drink tea, you know that it is ALWAYS better the day after it is made. Therefore, I would try to make it a day ahead. Never had any problems doing this before. About that time my Mr. Coffee Tea Maker broke and I decided to use one side of my dual coffee pot as a tea maker. The tea still tasted odd. (At this point it wasn't cloudy just tasted funny.) Then, the coffee pot broke. I looked for a Tea Maker but they were sold out. I guess everyone wanted one for Christmas. Therefore, we went to buying tea.

Recently, I found a Tea Maker and made tea again. Much to our disappointment the tea turned CLOUDY the next day. I made the tea the same as usual. I used the same type of tea that I have always used. So, what was the problem? I got online and found out that to help with the cloudiness that you should let the tea cool before adding the cold water and putting it into the refrig. I have never had to do this before. I gave it a try. The next morning, I awoke to CLOUDY TEA! I deducted that it had to be our water. Jeff went to the store and bought a gallon of spring water and I made another gallon of tea. WOO-HOO!! We have great tasting tea.

So if any of you have a problem with cloudy tea, it could be your water. We have lived in this house for over a year, I don't know why we are now having hard water but we are. Maybe the water treatment plant is having to cut costs. I am not sure but I know that now I have to buy water to make my tea. I guess it is better that buying premade tea. Now, I think I will go sip my glass of sweet tea and enjoy.. Problem Solved.

New Year Thoughts

For the past several days, I have been thinking about the last year of our life. Was it good? Was it bad? Would I change anything if I could? What could I have done better? How have I changed and was it for the better? Then my thoughts went to the new year. What do I want to accomplish this year? How can I make life better for everyone who is around me? Do I even want to change anything about me and my life or am I satisfied with the way things are now?

As I pondered all these thoughts, I realized that our family has had some challenges this year. We have added family members and have seen them leave us. Our marriage has been stretched and we are closer because of it. Our children have had their Mommy less and their Daddy more. Their relationship to each of us has grown in different ways but in ways that were needed. We have had some major changes but now wait to see what God wants us to do. God has revealed sin in each of our lives; we have sought forgiveness from Him and from others. God has used several situations this past year to deepen our relationship with Him and each other. Because of this I wouldn't change a thing. Maybe I could have done things better, but now I have been changed for the better. Through the situations, God is teaching me more about being Joyful always. Even though tears may come because of loss, we can rejoice because HE hasn't left us.

This year I am going to take each day as God reveals it, seek His Will with what to do, and live so that everyone around me sees Jesus and not me. I will say that I am NOT satisfied with my life. God has given us His desires that are not yet fulfilled in our life. I miss some of the things that He has taken away but I am leaning and trusting on Him everyday to comfort me. I realize that I did what He called me to do and everyday I did the my very best. One day as I stand before my Lord and Savior, I know that He will say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Because of Him I can face this new year and all of it's challenges. I look forward to growing closer to Him, serving my family and others, and investing my life in others so that they may know where my future lies.

Every year people are going to come in and out of our lives but if we must remember that when Christ lives in us our life in not our own. We live because He created us, because He loves us, and because He is not finished with us. We must walk with Jesus everyday. Our feet must move forward and we must press on for His Glory. While we walk, we Pray. We trust Him to take care of us. We rest knowing that HE is in control.

May this year bring each of you closer to Jesus in your blessings and in your trials. May you all have a JOYFUL NEW YEAR.

It's 2009

I got up this morning and told Jeff that today I was just going to be LAZY. I said that I was going to stay in my PJ's and do a few things that I wanted to do. Of course, I did say that I would cook dinner. This is where the idea of being lazy changed!! I was lazy all of about 15 minutes. Once I mentioned dinner, Jeff wanted to know if I was doing the traditional black eyed peas and collards. You see, he grew up in a house where New Year's Day was celebrated with this dinner. I ,on the other hand, grew up eating Hopping John and the only person who liked collards was my second Mom. So, she just got a dish from Granny. I usually ate the pork chops, rice and blueberry muffins but didn't find the Hopping John and collards to be a necessity. Anyway, who believes that you will get more pennies and dollars just by eating these things. If this was true everyone would be eating them MORE than just ONE day a year. All I get from eating these is a good POOP!
Therefore, I just don't see the need to cook these things except for the fact that my wonderful husband enjoys them. So, off to the store I go. I bring home the collards and stuff to make cornbread. I had the peas and pork chops. Once everything was unloaded, I sat down with a glass of tea. I thought, "I can just do a few things that I want to do now. Everyone is outside and I can just be lazy until dinner." I sat down thinking about the last year, the coming year and talking to God about all of it. (I will post my thoughts later.) Then the phone rang. It was Jeff from outside telling me that he had invited the neighbors over to eat dinner with us. Now, keep in mind that my goals for this year are to deepen by relationship with God, out of love for Him to serve others, and invest my life in people that God sends my way. Immediately, God had to remind me of these goals very quickly. Now, I had to get up make a dessert and add more to my dinner. I just had to laugh at the fact that God was watching just to see how I would respond. In all of about 3 seconds, I told Jeff "Sure, that is fine." I got up, put a pie in the oven, swept the floor, decided to add a Mac and Cheese to our dinner and picked up the toys that were laying here and there. Now, I am sitting back down. Well, just for about 5 minutes. The timer on the over just went off and the pie is smelling real good. I am off to finish my dinner and am looking forward to visiting with some neighbors who love the Lord.

Happy New Year To All!!