Christmas

I'm so thankful for a wonderful and fun Christmas. We were all well and had lots of food to eat and gifts to open. We are so blessed!! Tom's parents came to be with us over the holidays. Tom was on vacation but I worked in the Post Office for several days. We really didn't go out much but stayed home and just enjoyed being with family. Tom and I did some baking to ruin our diets and we really had fun. I have a few pictures here but they are out of order and blogspot won't let me switch them around...bummer!! Anywhoo, I will try to tell you about each one if I can.

I am so thankful for Christ coming as a baby in the manger to give me Everlasting Life. That is what Christmas is all about. On Christmas Eve we went to the church for a special Christmas service. We heard the story of Christ's birth from four different books of the Bible and then a cute story told by Pastor Wolf to the children. It just set us all in the Christmas spirit. Usually, we read the Christmas story at home and sing some carols. Since we had heard them all at church we came home already "full" of scripture and carols and just settled down to some snacks and then gifts. We have always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve and our stockings on Christmas morning. Here are some pictures.

This first one is Tom's dad opening the drill Tom got him. Then Tom used it the next day...nothing like killing two birds with one stone...lol!!

Tricia was really hard to buy for this year. She is too old for toddler toys and too young for older toys. She did like this dog. He walks and swims in the water. She has had him in the bathtub twice now and really seems to like it.

Katie got five dolls. This one makes noises. She slept with all of them the fist night. Funny child!!


Tom with an afghan from Mom.




The story behind this blanket is that Tricia spent the night with Grandma and was cold the next morning. So grandma let her use this pink blanket which was given to her by her sister. My Aunt had made this blanket as a gift for Mom and it is very treasured. Tricia told Grandma she would like to have it for her very own because it was so warm. Mom wrapped it up for her and she was really surprised to open up such a nice blanket.

My husband thought that this was the perfect gift. I had seen this in the store and had commented how I thought that would be better for the toilet than the other kind of brushes you keep and reuse. He thought it was funny to buy this for me and made sure that it was the first gift I opened.



Grandma Bessie was the hardest one to buy for. She kept telling me that she didn't need anything for Christmas. I couldn't let Christmas go by without getting her something. Since she has not been working except for babysitting for me, I thought maybe I would get her some household things. We filled this large bag with all kinds of household stuff. She was shocked and pleased. It was the perfect gift for her.

Our tree before we opened gifts on Christmas Eve.

I have some pictures that we had taken at the church using the village scene from the Singing Tree to post at a later time. If you haven't had time to watch the Singing Tree in the church archives, you will want to watch it. I was so impressed with how well the choir did and all of the drama team. You will really enjoy and be blessed by taking the time to see it.

Happy New Year to all of you my friends. I pray that this year will be all that you hope for and more. God bless.

~Gale~

WOW Christmas Dinner

On Tuesday evening, our ladies group from church had their annual Women of Worth Christmas dinner. These dinners are always fun to go to because you never know just what might happen. Tuesday nights was no exception.

The decorations were beautiful. The food (prepared by our pastor's wife Sherrie Wolfe) was delicious. The entertainment was fantastic. Now to tell you just what all of these things are.

The Stetler Trio entertained us with piano music, violin and voices in song. They are phenomenal singers. They sang for us as we ate and then did a mini concert for us after dinner. Paul Stetler had our devotions. I thought it was the most beautiful part of the evening.

We then were visited upon by The Crooked Mouth Family. Now these people were really hilarious. They all talked out the side of their mouths pretending that their sister was bringing home a new boyfriend who happened to not have a crooked mouth but instead bucked teeth. We laughed ourselves silly at this "crazy family."

Last but not least, I had the privilege of telling the story. I was so sick with some kind of virus but the Lord helped me so much to make the story come alive. I was so honored to be asked to do this. The Lord let's people know their hidden talent just to make them use it more I guess.

Now for some pictures. I won't take time to describe them all. There are some of the cheese cake bar which I might add was fabulous. Then some of the table decorations. The last few are of my mother and I and my sisters. The last picture is of my sister Brenda. She had left before I could get a picture of her by the fireplace. The two girls with her are Chasity Pittman and Talisha LeBeau (center.)

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Season. We are so blessed for the gifts that God has given us. Keep Jesus first through this season.

Birthday's

Today is my birthday...OUCH!! I turned 41 today. I can't get over how time flies. Yesterday I was 13 and getting ready for high school. Today I'm raising kids and starting them in school. I guess there are things I would have done differently if I had it to do all over again. I don't know what. I probably would have studied harder in school. I would have finished college. You always hear that hindsight is 20/20. We all can look back over our lives and see where we could have done better. Now I have to look forward and make sure that I do things right.

I told my Tom that I didn't really want a party. Maybe later in Jan. or Feb. when we are not trying to get Christmas gifts bought. Not to mention, Katie turns two on the 26th so there were three celebrations this month. It gets a little hard on the wallet. We are going to celebrate my day later. I don't mind.

Tom did "cook-up" dinner out at my favorite restaurant. My brother-in-law, Darrell, called me to ask if we could go to the Outback for dinner tonight. I told him I would check with Tom all the while having this suspicious feeling that something was not right. I call Tom and he says that he doesn't have anything cooked up for my b-day and yes he would love to eat out. We get to the restaurant and after a fantastic meal, the waitress and her crew arrive at the table to sing to me. My suspicious feeling was correct. I told Tom that he needed to repent for the little lie he told me...lol.

It was a nice night. Then we ended it with Wal-Mart and diapers. How fun is that??? Life must go on even when we turn a year older.

The tree is over...my feet hurt

The singing tree is officially over. Tonight was the last night and the church was packed. The tabernacle holds about 2000 people and we were putting out folding chairs at the back to accommodate all of the people. We had well over 2000 people. If you weren't able to see it just log onto here and you can watch it in the archives. It may take a week or so to get it on because the tech crew watches each night and then picks the best songs and puts it all together for the archives. You can also contact the church about ordering a DVD of the performance. It's definitely worth watching. We really prayed that God would use our songs and drama to talk to the community that was there. I believe He did.

Now onto another saga in our lives. Back to work and school and getting some shopping (ugh!!) done for Christmas. Not my most enjoyable thing to do...but alas, it must be done. We have hardly started. I plan to go one day and get everything done. My list is made and I am checking it twice...then gifts will be bought and the horrible shopping trip will be over.

This Saturday night we will be having our annual lighting of the candles here on campus. Each house is to line their property with candles. You get some lunch size bags and put sand in them with a candle and light them at dark. It is soooo coooollll!! We did it last year for the first time and everyone had an awesome time. I am looking forward to it. We will have a table outside with refreshments on it and everyone strolls by to see your lights and grab a snack. If you're in the area, stop on by.

Now that the Christmas season is officially here, I hope that you are remembering the reason for the season. We should remember all year around, but somehow in the bustle and busyness of life we forget. He is the most precious gift we will ever receive. Our Savior who came as a baby in a manger and then died on a cross for our sins. Why wouldn't we celebrate His birth??

Have a great week!! Keep Jesus first in your life. Have fun!!

Our Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day turned out to be a beautiful day. Tom and I worked in the kitchen all morning in perfect harmony. We don't always get to do this and we really enjoyed just being together with each other doing the things we love. The girls were playing and having a great time too. Our weather was perfect!! I think the temp got to around 72 making the afternoon glorious!!

There were 25 people here and we all enjoyed being outside in the fresh air eating our dinner. We had some tables and chairs set up on the drive way and all of the food under the carport. There weren't any flies but we sure fought with the bees. They were everywhere. I didn't take any pictures of the food table but I can assure you that we had loads of food. The menu was:

1. Turkey
2. Ham
3. Mashed Potatoes
4. Potato Salad
5. Baked Beans
6. Green Bean Casserole
7. Sweet Potato Casserole
8. Candied Yams
9. Corn Casserole
10. Broccoli Salad
11. Macaroni Salad
12. Grape Salad
13. Deviled Eggs
14. All kinds of pies and desserts
15. Wonderful dinner rolls

We were so stuffed when dinner was over. That night we ended up at Sue's for more desserts. Blueberry Cheesecake and Pumpkin Cheesecake. MMMmmmm good!!

I did get a few pictures. I'll post some later. We had a wonderful day. And all weekend we ate leftovers and relaxed. My mom fixed a pot of beans with the ham bone on Friday night and Darrell (my brother-in-law) made fried potatoes. That was really good too. I didn't have to cook all weekend. Now that's the way to end a perfect holiday!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends today. God bless!!

It's party time!!

I told you all that Tom had a birthday on Monday. He told me he really didn't want a party but I couldn't let his b-day go by without at least a cake. So I had a friend who learned to make Wilton cakes bake him a cake and her sister decorated it. I invited family and a couple of close friends to come over on Tuesday night (as I had taken Tom out for his b-day on Monday the actual day) and have cake and ice cream. We left the time open because every body is so busy. By 9:oo pm everyone had arrived. Tom was working on a truck for a friend but stopped to have some cake. The whole cake was eaten. Every single morsel, save a very small piece I had put back for my mom. She ate that piece today. That tells you we had a great cake. Gifts were optional. I bought Tom a pair of basketball shoes and the girls got him a gift card for Lowe's. He says he is missing some tools so we were trying to help him replenish. His friend Luke got him this little helicopter that fly's. It's pretty cool. A boy and his toys...lol. His parents sent him money. I think he is planning to add it to the gift card for some tools.

Tom had a great time. He didn't want to take the time for cake but afterwords he was so glad he did. It was a great night and we all had fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEETHEART!!

My sweetie turned 32 today on November 10th. I took him out for dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse and then bought him a pair of shoes he had been wanting from the Finish Line. He well deserved the nice evening.

I love you Tom and I pray we will have many more wonderful birthdays to celebrate together. You are the love of my life and my very best friend. Love you!!

I am very saddened by the results of the election. I am not a big politician follower. I have never voted before this year. Not in the Presidential elections anyway. I found out this year what I have been missing out on. My chance to make my voice heard. Not audibly but by my ballot I let America know where I stand in this election. Did it turn out the way I wanted it too?? No it didn't. Am I going to bury my head in the sand and refuse to be an American because of the results?? Absolutely not!! This is still America! This is still my Country! I am still an American! I will stay right where I am and continue to be an American. The land of the free and home of the brave.

Do I think that there will be consequences as a result of this election?? There are always consequences by the choices we make. The Bible says that the Israelite children wanted a King. They in fact demanded a King. God didn't want them to have a king but they were adamant. So God let them have a king. The result was a ruler who was a tyrant. The children of Israel suffered greatly under his leadership.

As a christian, I am going to pray for Mr. Obama that God will direct all of his decisions. I am going to support America and trust that God is still in control and He will take care of His people. Will I suffer?? Probably. The American voices were heard. The people cried out for Mr. Obama. Now all we can do as a nation is wait and watch. We will soon see just what Mr. Obama's "change" really is. Let's just pray that it is the right change for America.

One thing I do know, is that while I don't hate the man, Obama, I hate the moral issues that he stands for. The very things that Mr. Obama supports, God abhors. As a christian, I cannot agree with Mr. Obama. As an American, I still have to support my country even though I don't agree.

So I will pray for Mr. Obama and leave him in the hands of a Just God. God is in control!! I do not have to fear. That is a POWERFUL feeling!!

Trick-or-Treat night

We were privileged this year to be able to stay in our own community to trick-or-treat this year. All the other years we had to go to other communities to collect candy and there were some situations that I felt were not good for my girls. I talked with the board of Seabreeze Community and they voted unanimously to have trick/treat night here in our own community. So this was our first attempt since I have lived here and I have to say it was a BIG success.

We met at the PO at the front of campus where several church families came in and parked with their trunks open. The kids were able to go around to the vehicles for treats before starting around campus. We had some really nicely decorated vehicles. We even had some McCain/Palin representatives here to celebrate as well. The kids were all dressed up and ready for a fun time. We had Little Bo Peep, Cinderella, a pumpkin, an angel, Joe the Plumber, Mr. McCain, several soldiers and knights. We even had a pirate girl. I think the adults had as much fun as the kids did. Here are a few pictures.

I think that everyone had a great time and we're looking forward to next year. Hope your having a fun Fall.

A prayer request

For those of you who know Darrell and Sue Pittman, you will be interested in this information. The Pittmans had gone to Youth Challenge and today Darrell was going to go see his father in Corden, IN. On the way there about and hour away Darrell recieved a call telling him that his father had diedsuddenly. They don't really know what happened (at least at the time of his death) but figured maybe it was his heart. He had gone in to lay on the bed because he wasn't feeling very well and when his wife checked on him a little while later he was snoring. A few minutes later they found him dead.

Please keep the Pittman family in your prayers. Death is always a bitter pill to swallow but even more so when it happens so unexpectedly. As a result of this situation, Sue will not be home on Tuesday to take over the Post Office so I will be in there through the all of next week. I don't get to blog as much when I'm working but I'll catch you up on what's going on around here when I can.

Thanks for your prayers. As soon as I know some details I will post them for those who are interested. God bless.

Life as we know it (in our household anyway)

It has been a long but fun week here in our little neck of the woods. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures to post right now so you'll just have to take my word for it...lol. I have been training since last Thursday in the Post Office here on the college campus. My sister Sue is the Postmistress and she needed a backup to take her place when she would be gone. Since I'm not working and could spare the time, Sue asked me to take the job. The funny thing was we couldn't seem to get the board of the college to agree. They have funny ideas I'm here to tell ya!! They tried a couple of other people who didn't work out and finally when it came down to being an absolute necessity, they allowed me to do the job. Sue was leaving for Youth Challenge with her family and there was no replacement for the PO. She told me that she had prayed for God to work out a way for me to be in the PO for her. I think she was really sounding panicky because the Lord worked it out for me to train. I will be in there through Monday and then she will be back for Tuesday. I won't be in there for a while unless she is swamped and needs me. My next time scheduled is Christmas. We are staying here for Christmas this year and Tom's family will be here so I am able to help Sue out again while she goes North to her husband's family.

I really like the job. I was surprised at how quickly I picked up on the routine of the job. There are 333 boxes (which is nothing compared the the big PO) but I had to learn the names and corresponding numbers in a big hurry. That's a lot to put into such a small brain in that short of a time. I thank the Lord for helping me to learn as quickly as I did. Sue was bragging on me to her friends and our family. Kind of made my head swell. Not really. It really is not that hard and it is repetitive. That helps tremendously when you are looking up a name.

After I have gone in at 8:30 a.m. I sort all of the mail that has been put into the inbox. I get it all delivered to the correct box and then get any mail needing postage ready to go. About 9:15 I go to the big PO in Hobe Sound to pick up the mail. All of the mail (or the majority of it) goes into the big PO and then they sort it and have it ready for us to pick it up. This saves our Mail Carrier a lot of time. He doesn't have to deliver the mail himself to outside boxes.

Once I have delivered the mail to go out and collected the mail to go with me, I then check the box that we have rented there. Sometimes it's full and other times it's empty. I bring all of this mail back to our little PO and the sorting begins. Sometimes I may have 4-5 containers of mail and other times I may only have 2.

We have 4 sections of boxes. Mostly college students, faculty, staff and some of the older residents of campus are in the first section. When I say "older" I do not mean age. I mean all of the residents that have been here longer.The second section is college students and the third and fourth sections are campus residents and some staff. The church also gets their mail from us. We have about 12 larger boxes in the hallway for large packages. Since we only operate until 1:15 p.m. it's easier for people to get their large packages if they are in the outside box after we are closed. They then drop the key to the box back into the inbox and we get it the next day. They are able to enjoy their package without having to wait until the next day to get it.

To sort all of the mail I sit down at my desk and I start with the first class mail. Since I have 4 sections I have to separate the mail according to name and section. I have 4 piles when I'm done and then I can start putting the mail into the boxes. Sometimes I get the wrong mail in the wrong box. Hey I'm not perfect, only striving to be...heeheehee. Names can be really confusing when several people have the same first or middle name.

Then today just as I was closing up, the college Development office came in with a box of envelope's to be sent out. There were 238 of them. I of course did not have that many stamps in my drawer so tomorrow I get to take them all the the big PO and put 238 stamps on them while I am there. YEAH!!

All in all I like the job. I hope I can keep it as organized as Sue does. It's fun to visit with all of the students and staff and see my neighbors when they come to get their mail. It's a joy to see the excitement of a college student, who is so far from home, get a box full of goodies from their families. They get so homesick being so far from their families.

The best thing about doing this job is that Tricia is in school so I don't have to leave her at home with a sitter, and Katie loves to go to "brammas" to visit. When I go home my house is as clean as it was when I left. So I'm not stressed out all evening. That's a very good thing!!

Tidbits

Where do I start. This has been a long and exhausting week. My head is spinning. Life has really become a whirlwind affair. One things for sure...I haven't had time to be bored. LOL!! I guess I will just highlight the main events of this week. You can guess the rest.

I think I told you in an earlier post that Tom left about 3:00 a.m. on Monday morning. He was supposed to be home by Thursday evening. Due to some conflicts with a worker his job was set back a half a day or more. As a result he needed to stay over for today to finish up. Then another job started having problems so Tom stayed up all night fixing their problem. He called me tonight to tell me he wouldn't be home until Saturday. I felt so bad for him because he works so hard trying to get his jobs done well and on time. I think the employee is not longer an employee. That's pretty bad when you get hired one week and fired the next.

On Wednesday my sister called me to tell me that I was to start training in the campus Post Office. This decision had been up in the air for quite some time and the other "candidates" just were not working out. Sue is to leave next Thursday for Youth Challenge and as yet no one had been selected to take her place. When she called me I was really surprised. I didn't think that I was going to get the chance to help her. She was desperate and called the gentleman in charge. He told her to call me and get my training started. Sue told me that she has prayed all of this time that things would work out for me to be her backup. I guess God will answer prayer in His own time even though we worry and are impatient. So I am working in the PO until Sue returns from her trip then I will not be back in there until Christmas. I will have to retrain...lol. **small brain, very small brain**

I took the girls to McDonald's on Tuesday night. Since school has started Tricia doesn't get to eat out much. I felt I couldn't spend a lot of money so we did the kids meals at McD's. While we were ordering our food we found circus tickets on the counter. They are for October 27th with two shows. One is at 5:00 and one at 7:00. I told Tricia that I didn't know if daddy would be willing to go again. We went a couple of years ago and were very disappointed. NO ELEPHANTS!! That's what makes a circus. But this circus says there are elephants. So we will wait for daddy to decide if he wants to go again. The girls are free with the tickets and one adult purchase. It works out pretty good because we only pay for two tickets instead of three.

I was so disappointed tonight because it was the first night of the Marriage Seminar at the church and Tom has to work. We had signed up to go but without him I feel like a fifth wheel with all of the couples there and me all by myself. We were so looking forward to this time of learning. Usually these seminars are done away from the church and you have to go and stay if you want to be involved. We were so excited because we wouldn't have to leave the girls with a sitter and be gone for two nights. And then Tom's job had to mess up. He was as disappointed as I was. We are going to do our best to be in the Sunday morning services. At least we will get to hear the speaker once. We are looking forward to Sunday morning.

I approached Seabreeze Community about trick or treat night. I have lived here almost five years and we have never had trick/treat in our community. The kids always went to another community for that night. I wanted my girls to trick/treat in their own neighborhood because it is a Christian community as well as a safe and controlled environment. I was really overwhelmed when I found out that we had a unanimous yes for trick/treat night. I have had a few people call me to say they will be involved. Not as many as I had hoped for but we still have a couple weeks. Some of the church families who live off campus will be coming in for a trunk or treat party too. They will park in the commons and open their car trunks to pass out candy. The kids will have a blast. And their candy will be safe. That's the main thing.

We went out to eat on Thursday night with my sister's Sue and Brenda. Mom came with us. While we were eating Katie was getting into Sue's salad. She was putting her lettuce in the Ranch dressing dish and then licking it off of the lettuce. After a couple of times she put her little face up in the air and said "AAHHHH this is good" to which we all heehawed. I'm sure the other people in there thought we were crazy. My girls are not quiet girls. When they say something usually everyone hears it. Sometimes that is so embarrassing. We had a good laugh and enjoyed our dinner. On the way to the restaurant, Tricia kept talking to her imaginary friend Kaylee. She has had this "friend" for about a year now. She is forever talking to her. On the way to eat I finally had to ask her to stop. She was giving me a headache. I told her to stop talking to Kaylee for a while or she and Kaylee were going to get into trouble. All of a sudden I hear Patricia say "Patricia." And then she says "what Kaylee. I can't talk to you I'll get into trouble." I had to hide behind my laughter because it was so funny. At least she was informing "Kaylee" of pending trouble if she didn't stop talking.

I must bring this to a close. My girls are tucked into bed and I think I'm going to do the same. YAWN!! I'm tired. Thanks for stopping by. Leave me a comment or two. I love to read them. Blessings!!

Did you ever wonder??

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to live in another era? I guess the era I would have loved to be apart of would be the middle to late 1800's. When the West was wild and you traveled in a wagon to get where you needed to go. The Indians were on the rampage and the gunslingers were ready to shoot anyone who crossed their path. I have always been intrigued with books/movies that opened up that era to me. But I digress.

A friend of mine found a website that would take you back to 1950 and you can see what you would have looked like at that time. I thought it was funny so I tried it on myself. Now I realize, dear readers, that some of you have indeed lived in the 1950's up to now and maybe this is not what you looked like during those years. Humor me. I wanted to show you what a beautiful woman I would have been...heeheehee. (you might not want to see these while eating breakfast)

1950

1972

19701974198019841986199019942000

Now didn't I tell you that they were beautiful? LOL!! Check out this website and try it for yourself. www.yearbookyourself.com

Have fun.