Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

May you remember the true meaning of "Christ"mas this year!

here are some cute and funny messages that I found!!!

CUTE:
1. He handed her a dozen roses. 11 real ones + 1 fake one. He told her he would love her til the last rose died.
2. One day you'll come to me and ask me what's more important: You or my life. I'll say my life and you'll walk away never knowing that you're my life.
3. Don't ever frown because you never know who might be in love with your smile. :-)

Visiting the Billy Graham Library

When you think of a library you think of books -- however, this was not books -- it was basically a library telling you of the life of Billy Graham. Here you see the "barn" with the cross in it -- that is the library. The brick house is his childhood home. You are greeted by very friendly volunteers who make you feel very welcome and comfortable. Then you head to the barn where Bessie the cow tells about Billy Grahams childhood. You then move to a small video clip with various testimonies. As you follow the tour you will go through different rooms telling of many places Billy Graham has been and seen with lots of items to see. This is some of what the flyer says: You enter through the foot of the cross (which is the front of the building you see above, which is 40 feet high) There are scripture passages emblazoned on the wooden structural beams in hope that you will see beyond the man and be touched by the message of God's love"

Bessie the cow

This was one of the rooms that was showing how Billy Graham used radio as a ministry.

One of the many quotes throughout the tour

Shows the Communism and the down of the Berlin Wall. You then will walk out through more crosses and volunteers wait to pray with those who would like. Through the entire tour they are playing beautiful church music and scriptures throughout. There was just a nice special feel to this place. There is also a prayer garden.

The younger kids (Clayton) are given cards of things to hunt for while they go through the tour. This made it more interesting for Clayton and he then received a little gift for doing the hunt.

If your ever in Charlotte, NC and have time this is a really nice place to stop. Free of charge....they do have a book store and dairy bar when you are finished. I must admit that I don't place a lot on people but on God, so I wasn't sure what to expect when we went. However, I really think this was a great place for a family to visit.

Pecans!

My parents have a pecan tree in their back yard....at Thanksgiving time they brought us some and we started shelling them. Well, while we are in South Carolina we decided to pick up the last of the pecans from the trees. They have almost all dropped but we are collecting all that we can. They taste so good!!

Don't you love the "gadget" that we are using to pick up the nuts. You just jab the nut and they collect inside this thing. Sure beats bending over for every single nut....although maybe its the lazy man's way to pick em up...whatever, they are a blessing!!

Merry Christmas!

Here is wishing you all a Merry Christmas!! We are leaving for the warmth of South Carolina and will be away for awhile. Wishing you all a Christ filled Christmas!!
Steve, Amy, Alyssa, Shalene & Clayton


Sunday 21st -- we have arrived in South Carolina and we are enjoying the weather (56 degrees today) with NO snow!!! Getting to enjoy a lazy week with my parents.!

The Bug Part 2

Okay, so the bug that has been at our house is NOT as cute as the one in the picture. This bug seems to have a made a mass movement throughout our entire church. So much so that it appears many are facing round two!!! I'm very WORRIED about attending church this Sunday just because I am fearful of "the bug" again. Lysol and Lysol wipes have been a constant companion of mine for the past several days!! We have washed so many blankets, scrubbed bathrooms and sprayed doorknobs that we are smelling VERY clean around here. Steve is the only one that has survived through this ordeal and appears to be healthy. It appears that once you think you have survived the bug you will suffer for several days with belly cramps and "sick" feelings for awhile.

I am now hearing stories of others who do not attend our church but attend the school that many of Beavertowns kids attend.....so it is spreading....Maybe we will wear masks (like the one above) to church this Sunday to avoid "THE BUG"

Now, we had it BAD but this story posted by Gwen is REALLY bad!!!

Cookies...

Here is our nativity with our countdown in the background -- its really hard to believe we only have 6 more days! We have been doing the advent deal along with the countdown which has added to some fun. Each day they change the countdown, run to get there tiny box for the 12 days of Christmas and open there small gifts. Its been fun! Sometimes the little gifts are the best!

Today we had a snow/ice storm so I didn't go to work. It was a perfect day to finish up on my Christmas baking. Since Alyssa needed 3 dozen cookies for Sunday School (Picture in middle is what she is taking -- have to add the reese cup cookies and the pumpkin roll yet) I recruited her to help out with the rest of the stuff!! Always like helpers!! (I mean come on, she was taking some of it to Sunday School!)

We plan to visit my parents in South Carolina for the holidays. I'm told its in the 70's today!!! But will be in the 40's when we get there. Mom called today making the statement that she was worried that her butter would melt in the car (she went to the grocery and then to work, so she was leaving groceries in her car) Told her I didn't feel one bit sorry for her -- as I looked out the window and saw the ice "gushing" from the skies on top of the snow that had already fallen.(in HUGE flakes, by the way) Anyway, I always try to take a bunch of cookies with me when we go for the holidays!

Well, I have proof (the pictures) of the cookies being in my house. We will see how long they last!

What do you think?

Here is another one from my mom.....

You all remember Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, who painted the jail cells pink and made the inmates wear pink prison garb.

Well......... SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN! Oh, there's MUCH more to know about Sheriff Joe! Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay. The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behaviour. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows. The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. 'Teresa and I adopted a Weimaraner from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered, and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip inserted the day we got him.Cost us $78. The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day.' Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc.He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals. I have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand.

He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later. 'We have six trees in our yard from the Prison.'Yup, he was re-elected.

He's in trouble with the ACLU again.He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural, that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement needed help in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border.

He's kind of a 'Git-R-Dun' kind of Sheriff. TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTY SHERIFF AND HE KEEPS GETTING RE-ELECTED, THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (In Arizona) who created the 'Tent City Jail': He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them. He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. He took away their weights and cut off all but 'G' movies. He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects. Then he started Chain Gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination. He took away cable TV until he found out there was a Federal Court Order that required cable TV for jails so he hooked up the cable TV again only let in The Disney Channel and The Weather Channel. When asked why the weather channel he replied, "So they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my Chain Gangs."He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value. When the inmates complained, he told them, 'This isn't the Ritz/Carlton.....If you don't like it, don't come back.'

He bought an old Newt Gingrich's lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied 'A democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.'

More On The Arizona Sheriff: With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix, the Associated Press Reports: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at The Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. Hundreds of men wearing pink boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 116 degrees inside just the week before. Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their pink socks. 'It feels like we're in a furnace,' said James Zanzot, an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 year. 'It's Inhumane.' Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic.

He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: 'It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!' Way to go, Sheriff! Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live comfortably until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.

I think I like this guy!!! Sorry if you disagree.....

Frosty

Here is another picture my mom shared with me! She seems to provide a lot of the funny pics on this blog!

If you can't see the caption here is what it says: "Right in the middle of the produce aisle, Frosty gets caught picking his nose."

American Currency

VOTE
Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation. NBC is taking a poll on "In God We Trust" to stay on our American currency. Go to the link above and vote!!

Support our Troups!

I don't know this soldier but I do know that our troops need our support and prayers. Please look at this web site and watch the video of this hero who died for our country at age 2o. Even if you can't help with things we can help with prayer!!! Pray for the troops and the families!

The Bug is Here!!

Well, the bug has arrived at our house. Last night when we arrived at the church for our second night of the Christmas program we encountered many of stories!! It seems that about half of the crew who were characters or back stage workers in the program had been sick Sunday evening into Monday -- and I will admit that when I was walking down the hall I came across a group of guys swapping stories -- you know, kindda like when you swap deer stories -- only this time it was "who had the worse case of sickness!!" UGH. Anyway, it was a bit funny as the stories emerged -- Many were wondering if it had been food poisoning from something we had all eaten during one of our meals between practice.

Well, I don't know what it is but my three kids have it today. Shalene woke up with the bug, then Alyssa this afternoon and as Steve was preparing to leave for the last and final night of the program Clayton mentioned that he wasn't feeling so well. Steve said he was leaving him since he didn't want to get to the church (Steve sings in the program) and have to turn around with a sick fellow. Well, that was a smart decision because probably 5 minutes after he shut the door I heard Clayton in the bathroom......he has it too......and my belly isn't doing so hot either!! So, tonight they are two angels short (Shalene and one of the other girls are sick), a Magi attendant is missing (Clayton) a city person (Lyssa) and the costume lady (me) are all out -- now they found people to fill in for us since it isn't any HUGE part in the program but it just adds to the day!!!

Needless to say, I hope our sick stories don't beat the ones the guys were sharing last night in the hall!!!

(you can read Shari's version of the bug here)

Christmas Season - BUSY!!

Today (this morning at 9:00) a group of people from our church gathered and made the candy packages (we always pass out bags of candy to the church family for Christmas) we did over 400 bags of candy. We also put together fruit baskets for our shut-ins -- we will go caroling on Wednesday evening and pass these baskets out. (made 60 baskets!!) We were able to get everything finished up by 11:00!! Above pic is a view of the assembly line -- some open the bag liner and it starts down the row. We then toss in the correct amount of candy and it ends up at the end (Where you see Clayton in the hat) we will fold and staple the bags. Then count and put into boxes to take to the church and hand out this Sunday!

Christmas program at our church - this was taken during dress rehersal - but you get the idea. See Clayton kneeling holding the purple robe!! What a cutie.

Don't you love the hair styles!! This story was in the future so we did some different things with hair. Our entire family was involved this year with the program -- I did costumes with Alyssa helping. Shalene is an angel, Steve sings, Clayton is the eunich and Alyssa plays a city person in the future scene. I also get to help in the back with running and making sure everyone is in place during the program. Its fun but you get tierd!! We had a packed church last night -- probably around 450 or more people -- haven't heard the official count. We will be doing the program tonight and tomorrow yet.

Sunday School Program: (below) Clayton and Reuben performing in their Sunday School program this past Sunday morning.

Meet the Slobs!

If you haven't met the SLOBs yet you can visit http://www.theslobs.com/ and find out all about these curious little creatures who live in your office.You can even create your own and play against friends.

Frugalicious Fun

Well, I've started up my own frugal blog -- so for those of you who have enjoyed the links for free items or codes for savings you will need to start visiting this blog:

Frugalicious Fun

Bear with me, I'm still working on that blog - but I have posted some new stuff today!!!

Deal of the Day!

Register at Walden and receive a free 2009 Walden Media Calendar AND a free DVD of Amazing Grace during the registration process. For a limited time only!

In The Doghouse!

My mom shared this with me. Thought I'd pass it along!

Clayton's Words of Wisdom

Some of you may know that I am trying to be a "frugal" mom. That means coupons and a budget (which I am adjusting to -but it can be a challenge, just to keep track of everything and which catagory I deduct from -- trust me, I've always been on a budget. However, it was more like, when its gone it's gone....now its, where do I deduct that receipt from!)

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of CVS shopping in the past several months. So the other day on the way to church my son was messing around with an old digital camera. I mentioned that he needed to take it easy that the batteries would run out before he ever arrived to the program practice. And then he wouldn't be able to take any pictures.

His response, "I'll just go get em free at CVS!" (the 8 year olds words of wisdom!!!)

I had to laugh at that one!! He knows I've been doing a lot of watch the adds, match up coupons and such and CVS is a local favorite to do that. Can't believe how much the little ones pick up --

Program Practice

We have been busy with practice for the upcoming church program -- lots of time involved but it always turns out nice. Sofia is suppose to be practicing--Looks lazy to me!!

Jamison and Clayton decided to play games while waiting for their parts in the practice.s

Our program is coming soon -- 14, 15 & 16 at 7:30 each evening....love to see you there!

At it again!!

So are you all finished with your Christmas shopping? baking? and decorating? I just did up some oreo truffles and oreo bark this afternoon for my neighbors. But I'm still not finished with everything. Gotta get busy wrapping gifts and baking a few more things. However, I do believe I am finished with my shopping!! How exciting. I'm so thankful for that since we have an extremely busy next few weeks -- so getting a little ahead is always helpful.

Anyway here are some links to a few samples I came across today:

Soap sample

Razor sample

Christmas Play Practice

guess who :) haha i dont think you will get it... its Matt Maloyd in his costume...

setting up...

trying out hairdo's haha

Dunkin Donut Coffee

Coffee sample

Proof of Cookies!

Okay, here is proof that I made cookies, just in case they disapper overnight!! I'll freeze some for Christmas!! (Have 5-6 batches of cookies to do yet!! Hope to do truffles yet too)

Made pumpkin cookies!! I had frozen fresh pumpkin, so I cooked it down a little before adding it to my cookie batter!

I really LOVE the pampered chef stones!

Icing -- the best part!

Alyssa loves to take the cookies off the cookie sheet - not sure what is so exciting about it, but hey, I'll take any help I can get!



And here is the PROOF!!!

Dilly Beans

My kids LOVE dilly beans (NOT THE STOREBOUGHT KIND)
Anyway, this summer we asked Mrs. Slavens for the directions and we canned some dilly beans -Now, I didn't get very many canned so I've been trying to stretch them . Today, while I was working in the kitchen I noticed that Clayton had gotten the jar of dilly beans out. Clayton decided that he would eat about 1/4 of the jar while he was doing homework!! He didn't see me taking pictures at first -- he wouldn't even look at the jar, he just kept on reading his history and sticking his hand in the jar....Needless to say the jar is empty now!!