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!!!!