Hearts in Service Blog

Emily decided for her next sewing project that she wanted to make a lap quilt. So I rummaged through the fabric I had and she picked out what she wanted. She's been busy sewing away here and there for the past month. Today she finally finished it. Here is the front. The back view. I think she did an excellent job for her first major project!

I've gotten into the card making swing of things lately. It's so much fun. My goal is to make enough cards for the year so I can use them for all different occasions. Here are some from yesterday: I think this one was my favorite. I'll give you a break from anymore but I wanted to share these.

I have a number of thank you notes to write. Today was such a peaceful day and I had some time this afternoon to sit down and make some. They are not as nice as some cards that I've seen others make but these were easy and fun to do. Here are some of them. This was the first time in quite a while that I've had time to just sit and do something enjoyable. I'm definitely going to have to make that a priority more often.

We had a wonderfully, quiet Christmas today. I was up for 3 hours in the middle of the night and went back to bed so we had a later start to the day. However, the kids were patient and didn't try to wake me up which was nice. :-) Here are some pictures of their favorite gifts today. Legos are always a big hit. I love her face in this photo! This is what caused all the excitement. It was so nice to stay home and just relax and enjoy the day. It has been a crazy two months so today was definitely a gift. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Believe it or not, this is the first year my children have ever had their own money to go Christmas shopping. Usually, we give them each some money and they hit the dollar store to purchase gifts for each other. This year the boys earned money fixing up the building next door and Emily had some money she earned helping me around the house. They were so excited to go out today and get their shopping done. Nathan made a comment to me that warmed my heart. He said, "Now I know how you and Dad must feel when you buy gifts for us." "It's exciting being able to think about what you want to buy someone and use your own money to buy it." He also said, "I can't wait to see everyone's faces on Christmas day." Emily was skipping by me in the store and said, "I love shopping for others with my own money!" They really understood the joy of giving to others. It was amazing for me, as their mother, to see the excitement and happiness in thei...

My children have been wanting snow for about a month now. All they talk about is having a white Christmas. We had our first snow storm yesterday and got about 6 inches of snow. There is another major storm coming through tonight and tomorrow. I could of gotten a prettier view but that would of meant that I had to go outside. This was how I found Stephen; laying face down in the snow. I guess he's happy. :-) Of course, we're supposed to get a nor'easter tonight and tomorrow which will mess up my children's Christmas program at church. I'm going to have to come up with Plan B. At least the kids got their wish!

We took the girls from 3D Girls caroling last night and they had a great time. It was freezing! This year I got smart and called a few people ahead of time so they were prepared for us to come and one of the ladies from our church even had hot cocoa and cookies waiting for us. I love doing things like this and our church has done it in the past. It's much more fun with a bunch of little girls though!

Look what Dan brought home for me today. Gorgeous flowers! A beautiful bouquet of roses Christmas Ivy He is so thoughtful............ and thrifty. They were actually leftovers from a funeral he did. LOL!!!!! I knew I love that man for a reason.

I received a couple of surprises in the mail from Elizabeth. First, a table runner to put together. Scrapbooking supplies. I love scrapbooking papers to make cards and such but never buy them for myself so this was such a lovely surprise. Isn't she sweet? Thank you, Elizabeth!

I watched my friend's baby yesterday for about an hour and a half and got this picture of her and Emily. Isn't this sweet? Emily loved playing with her. That is until she started screaming! LOL!

The children made a gingerbread house yesterday from a kit and had great fun putting it together. Of course, there favorite part was eating the candy! Stephen really got into it. She had a mouthful of candy in this shot. The final masterpiece. The funny thing was after they put it together, we were sitting in the living room and heard a crash. The whole thing had fallen apart. Oh well. They had fun anyway and in their minds the whole point was being able to eat the candy. :-)

I feel so disorganized this year. Normally, I put up all the decorations the same day we decorate the tree. However, that did not happen this year and it's taken me about a week and a half to get it done. They are all up now and look so pretty. I never go crazy with the outside of the house. I do put up a wreath on each door but that's about it. This year we have a live wreath that my neighbor gave me. I made a centerpiece. I love pulling out the different decorations each year because there is usually some special meaning with them. Here is a manger that my sister-in-law brought back from Haiti years ago. It's hand carved. This is a manger that was handmade for my children when the boys were little. Some ladies from a church that supported our ministry in the city made it. All of the kids have enjoyed playing with it at one point or the other. Now that the boys are older, it's Emily who plays with it each year. Close-up. I love having a fireplace this year beca...

I got a package in the mail today from my mother and it had a beautiful surprise in it. I knew that she has been making an afghan, but I didn't know it was for me! Here is a close-up. The best thing is that it matches my living room. Isn't it beautiful? Thank you for my Christmas gift, Mom! I love it and you!!! :-)

Each year for Advent, we do a Jesse Tree. This is a tree, or a large banner with a symbolic tree, or a branch that is decorated each day, with ornaments or objects that represent Old Testament events from Creation to the Birth of Jesus. The Jesse Tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots." It is a vehicle to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history. I found a little table top tree and threw some lights on it. I printed pictures to represent each aspect of the history and laminated them. We read a scripture that correlates with an event, discuss it, and then hang the ornament on the tree. The pictures are things like the world to represent creation, a ram to represent how God provided a ram to Abraham instead of sacrificing Issac, and other things like that. The kids love doing this each year. We start on t...

Last night and tonight have been a great time to catch two awesome sights up in the night sky - Jupiter & Venus. They have been to the lower right of the moon and look like two very bright stars in the sky. Usually, the camera bombs at taking night shots but these turned out pretty good. Venus is on the left and Jupiter to the right. Even the moon cooperated and I got a great shot of it. I could of stayed out all night, except it was about 30 degrees and I was freezing!