more Christmas pics

you can click here to see more Christmas pics! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Happy Birthday Jesus! 2008

We had  a wonderful time celebrating Christ's birth!  on Christmas Eve the girls wanted to make cookies to give away and they did this almost totally by themselves. They had a wonderful time!  I was challenged by their excitement over "giving" this year.  It was contagious!   Then that afternoon we made a birthday cake for Jesus!

Later that evening we went to Brad's parents and had celebrated with them.

We had Christmas morning here just our family and that is always a sweet time that I am thankful for.  We sang to Jesus and then added Jesus to the manger on our "noel Christmas calendar".  Then we opened gifts together.  My favorite memory will be the girls being so excited about giving Brad and I our gifts that they picked out at "Santa's secret shop".  

Then we left later Christmas day and headed to Macon.  We celebrated at my Grandmother's with my mom's side and had a wonderful time and "attempted" a group family photo!

Then the next day we celebrated some more at my Dad's house!

We are very grateful for the blessings the Lord has placed in our life!

and we are still rejoicing over the birth of our Savior!

Thank you Father!

tidings of great JOY!

It is hard to believe that Christmas is two days away.  I have so busy lately with the things of "life" that Christmas has suddenly arrived for me.  I was starting to feel a little sad about the things I had not done with the girls and the events we had not attended.  Then (thankfully) the Lord quickly reminded me that sometimes the simplicity of Christmas is when we learn the most.  I was so grateful for this past Sunday morning as the pastor reminded us to have JOY as we celebrate the birth of our savior.  It is so easy to get distracted with "life" and quickly forget to have a joyful heart. We have so much to celebrate as believers in Christ!

We hope you have a joyful Christmas as we all celebrate the birth of our Savior!

We enjoyed making a gingerbread house with the girls this past weekend!  I think Lillie ate more than she decorated!  

Our church is always decorated so beautifully for Christmas.  The HUGE tree always amazes the girls as they stare up at it in awe!  

I also wanted to share this prayer that we prayed together as a church on Sunday.  It was so encouraging and convicting to me, as I am not full of "the great tidings of great joy" that filled the sky so long ago.  I am so full of self-love and self-focus.  I pray this encourages your heart this Christmas as it it did mine.  It is from "The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions".  (I love reading these prayers from so long ago, they are amazing)

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O Source of all good, what shall I render to you for the gift of gifts,

Your own dear Son, begotten, not created,

My Redeemer, surety and substitute.

Herein is wonder of wonders: he came below to raise me above,

Was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is wisdom: when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,

He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost.

O God, forgive my unbelief, my self-love, my self-reliance.

Take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and enlarge my mind;

Let me hear the good tidings of great joy, and hearing, believe, rejoice, and adore;

Place me with the ox, camel and sheep, to look with them upon my

Redeemer's face,

And in him account myself delivered from sin.

Let me clasp the newborn child to my heart and embrace him with undying faith.

For in Him you have given me so much that heaven can give no more.

Amen!

and yet some more...

Lillie decided to have a sword fight with Daddy after the Pirates of the Caribbean ride!

This is at Downtown Disney and this entire thing is made out of Legos.  Pretty amazing!

In the castle!

the girls enjoyed swimming (the pool was heated) but it was a little cold when they got out!

more Disney pics

the castle looked amazing - they had it covered in Christmas lights!

Addie Lane got to be "chip" and help Belle tell a Christmas story in her garden!

the "magical place"

Well we are home from Disney and have not quite settled back into the non magical world yet!  We had a wonderful time and it went by WAY too fast.  Addie Lane cried at bedtime last night b/c she said she missed Disney World so much.  I think Brad was a little happier than we were to be home, he came down with a terrible cold while we were there (and even missed a whole day of going to a park).  I think he still had a fun time though (he got to enjoy some rides as well - even amongst all the squeals over princesses).  We went to Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and got to have dinner in Cinderella's castle (then it rained and we had to leave the park) and Thursday we had a break day and hung out at the pool and then went to Downtown Disney then that night we had dinner at Chef Mickey's and Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald come up to your table (the girls absolutely loved this).  Friday we went to Epcot and that night we had dinner with the princesses and each princess came up to the table (the girls were too excited to eat).  Saturday we went to Universal Studios (Brad missed this one).  Then on Sunday we had a break morning and then at 4:00 we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom.  This was our absolute favorite.  We had an incredible time.  It snows on main street and there are "dance parties" all throughout the park with the characters (the girls got to do "the hand jive" dance with the step sisters) and they give out FREE hot chocolate and cookies.  There are special christmas shows and parades as well.  The park is open until midnight and the lines for the rides were very short.  We didn't leave the park until 12:20 AM and the girls could not have been sweeter.  This sounds so cheesy but we truly did have a "magical time" and we are so thankful for the blessing of this trip!

here are a few pics from our trip!

I thought Lillie was going to flip out with excitement! She LOVES tinkerbell!

Dumbo is one of the girls' favorite rides!

The have wonderful shows in the castle stage and Lillie squealed when she saw Peter Pan!

more fun

We are so proud of Addie Lane for finishing her "reading book".  She has been working on this for the past year and a half.  This is a great book and I would highly recommend using it if you want to teach your child to read at home.  Its called "Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons"  but it took us MUCH longer than 100 lessons!  :-)  When you are done your child will be reading on a first grade level!  It has been a joy to watch her learn to read.  

Way to go Addie Lane!

Addie Lane was so excited to get to finally open Kit!

(Lillie really liked Kit too)

Our little pumpkins!

Addie Lane turned 5 1/2 today.  I can hardly believe my baby girl is 5 1/2!  It has FLOWN by.  She is such a delight to our family and we are so thankful for the blessing of her!