Soooo Funny!

Attention Moms and Women: You have got to read this hilarious mom moment that I read on a fellow bloggers blog. We have all had those embarassing mom moments, but I have never heard one quite like this. Click here.

God Is So Good!

Guess what? Since my post this morning God has already provided a house for us to rent in Alabama!!! God is so good to us! I feel so much better now knowing that we have a home to move into.

We have been working with a real estate agent down there since our visit over Thanksgiving. We met with her then and looked at a few homes. She has worked so hard for us. She has gone into each home herself and checked it out, since I have not been able to. This weekend she found a rental home listed in the newspaper that she thought would be perfect. She checked it out and it is!!! It is a 2100 sqare foot 4 bedroom home with a garage. We have been hoping and praying for 4 bedrooms, so that we could give the girls each their own. The garage is an added blessing. I have been worried about storage space. Most of the homes in the area do not have garages because the weather does not require one. Also I have always wanted to live in a yellow house. They just look cheery. When we painted our home this past summer, I wanted to paint it yellow. We chose not to because the house right next to us is yellow. This home is just another reminder from God that He does care for us personally. He cares about our needs and our wants.

Another blessing is that this home also does not require an arm and a leg deposit. The last home that I really like required $2500 just in deposits and application fees. Wow! I have been overwhelmed with the costs. This one is affordable.

THE NEW YEAR BRINGS BIG CHANGES FOR OUR FAMILY AND MINISTRY

When a new year comes, we all think about starting things over, doing things differently, or a new year's resolution. The new year is a time of starting fresh, a time of getting a clean slate to work with. The Lord is doing this with our family and ministry.

We have been serving the Lord here at Temple Baptist Church for 5 1/2 years. The Lord has used us and done many wonderful things here during our time. The attendance has increased and others have become more faithful. We have been able to really grow the Sunday School ministry. We have noticed lately that most of our Sunday morning attenders now come to Sunday School also. On a regular basis we have less than 10 who only come for the worship service. Praise the Lord! We have been able to buy a van and begin a van route. We have been able to build a new building. I could go on and on about all of the many amazing things that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of here. We have grown and learned a great deal spiritually. However, the Lord is now moving us on. Aaron is the new pastor at Crossroads Baptist in Mobile, Alabama. Our last Sunday here will be January 25th. We announced this to our church here yesterday. This was a hard task to do.

I often say God's will is not just looking forward and saying what is God's will for my life. If you want God's will for your life, it begins moment by moment. If you are doing what God wants you to do right now at this moment, you will be able to look back and say I did God's will for my life, because you made the right decisions moment by moment and day by day. God's will is not just long term; it is right now. What you do with your time, what you say with your words, what you think in your mind are all part of doing God's will for your life.

I said all of this to say God has made it very clear to us that this is His will. We followed through the doors that He opened for us, and this is the direction He has led us. We have such a peace about this decision that words can't even describe. We just know that we are following the Lord. We know that staying here at our current church would be disobedient. We have come to the realization that if this is God's will for us, this is God's will for Temple Baptist Church. We are excited about what God has in store for us.

We would appreciate your prayers for us during this transition time--prayers for us and our new church, Crossroads Baptist and prayers for Temple Baptist as they begin the pastor search process.

We also have a special prayer request regarding our housing situation. We are going to rent a home in Alabama. However, we have not settled on one yet. It is very hard for me to pick a home to live in that I can't see in person. Money is going to be an issue also. The upfront costs of moving into a rental can get quite pricey. Pray that we will find the house that the Lord has for us quickly. We only have a few weeks. Pray that I will know which one it is that He has for us. Another enormous burden we have is our home here in Indiana. The housing market being what it is and our little town being a town people are moving out of rather than into makes selling our home right now difficult. We know that God is moving us and will take care of us, however the financial burden of renting a home in AL and having a mortgage here on a pastor's salary is going to be heavy. We are praying that we will be able to rent our home to a good family that will take care of it or that it will sell quickly. It is not impossible that it will sell. Our God makes all things possible. The sell of our home would be a huge burden lifted!!! We really do covet your prayers in this area.

Christmas Update

We had a wonderful Christmas here at home and with family. After church on Christmas Eve I had a little party prepared for "just us", as Abbie called it, here at home. I pulled out the Christmas serving trays and had homemade queso dip and chips, little sandwiches, chocolate covered pretzels , cookies. etc --you know holiday party foods-- all eaten on candy cane party plates and napkins and with green and red plastic utensils. It was special having all of this for "just us." The kids each were able to pick two presents to open that night. Then we stayed up late watching movies in the living room. We had a special time.

Christmas morning we got up early of course to let the kids open the rest of their gifts. I cooked a full Christmas dinner with turkey and ALL of the trimmings--again for "just us." We have a lot of left overs, which I love--only at the holidays though. Christmas late afternoon and evening we were at Emily's ( Aaron's mom) for fellowship, food, and gifts with the family. We had a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

Today is a day of cleaning up the boxes and trashbags, putting together toys, finding and installing batteries, reorganizing, and after all of that some rest!

Scroll down more for pictures and a video (hopefully).



The kids got new slippers!





Wow! Thank you Nana and Papa!

Asher posed with his new belt, and Justus tried to figure out what to do with it.

Justus liked his new play table. He found all kinds of ways to play with it. Just try to ignore the nasty milk running all down his shirt.

All of the girl cousins opening gifts at Grandmama's.

Asher LOVED his new cowboy clothes.

Busiest Time of the Year!

We have been soooooooooo busy around here. I just wanted to stop in and say hello and share a few pics of the Christmas lights that we went to see the other night after dinner. We all went in our pj's the kids loved it! We did too, because the kids fell asleep on the way home. We just carried them straight to bed.

Walkway of Lights in Marion, Indiana: If you are anywhere near Marion, Indiana, this is a beautiful 4 mile lights display that runs along the river and through a park. They also have a large gorgeous nativity scene. I couldn't get a good picture of it. Here are just a few of the lights that we saw.

7 Maids a Milking- They had all twelve of the Twelve Days of Christmas

12 Drummers Drumming

For the Boys: There were lots of dinosaurs. This one was Asher's favorite.

Winter Wonderland

Hello everybody! We are in a winter wonderland right now. However, we are not walking in a winter wonderland. We are slipping, sliding, and falling in a winter wonderland. EVERYTHING is covered in ice right now. We were hit by the ice storm Wednesday and then again last night. Today is warm for us- 41. We all said "Yeah! The ice will melt." But the news is telling us that this will only make conditions worse. It is warm and rainy which is making the ice more slippery instead of just melting it. We are suppose to go way down in temperature this weekend and get hit by another storm. Then all of the ice we already have and the melting ice will be worse. Our weather man is predicting single digits for Sunday.

We have our church Christmas program on Sunday evening. We are praying that the weather will still allow the people in the program to come and that the people coming to watch will still get out. We have lots of county roads that our members have to drive on. These roads don't get treated or cleared too quickly.

School was cancelled, so we are starting the Christmas vacation one day early! The kids were excited. The girls and I have plans for making some bead jewelry today, and we may begin making our gingerbread house. We are definately watching a Christmas movie or two also. I have present wrapping planned too. We are doing all of this in our comfy pj's. Yes, that is right. We are not getting dressed today.

Asher's 4th Birthday

It was on our anniversary four years ago that I just had the feeling of "this is the day". That night around 6:00 Aaron, my mom, and I went to the hospital. The baby was coming!

I really didn't want the baby to have to share his birthday with our anniversary, and I really didn't want to share my anniversary with the baby. SELFISH!! Anyway.... at 1:08 a.m. on December 18, 2004 Asher Forrest was born. He weighed in at 8lbs. and 2oz.

Happy 4th Birthday Asher!

Nine Wonderful Years

On December 17th, 1999, Aaron and I were married.

We have had nine amazing years together. He is a wonderful husband. He loves me with all of his heart. I truly can't even express what he means to me. I love him. I need him. I depend on him. I trust him. I follow him. He makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He makes me cry. And yes,....sometimes he makes me mad.

Nine years and four kids later.....December 13, 2008

Happy 9th Anniversary Aaron!

I love you most!

Christmas Tour of Homes

I know that one of my favorite things at Christmas time is looking at all of the decorations and lights. BooMama has a Christmas Tour of Homes that tons of ladies have participated in. You get to look at other's decorations and traditions in your comfy clothes at home. I thought some of you might enjoy. Click on BooMama to start browsing.

Another beautiful home that is not on this tour but is a definate must see is here at Warm Pie, Happy Home. This woman has some great decorating ideas. You really must go see it.

I Need Help!

I just can't figure out how to load the video of the kids singing. You must read the post below if you missed out on hearing about "the girl in the red bow". I click on the add video button at the top of a post, choose my video, and push upload. It seems simple enough, just like adding a photo. However, my video attempted to upload for many, many hours and never did. Maybe it is my video or maybe it is how I am trying to add it. Does anyone out there have any tips/help for me?

Also here are some family pics we took this weekend at Emily's house. It is always interesting, funny, and a little frustrating trying to get a picture with all of the kids looking, smiling, and not doing somethimg goofy. We are going to put one of them in our Christmas cards this week.

Which pic do you vote for?

#1

#2

#3#4#5

#6

Here are some extras of the kids.

So I have two things for you to comment on, please. Do you have any ideas of what is going on with my video uploading problem and which family pic would you choose?

The Kids' Christmas Program--And the Oscar Goes To...

Preparations in the room before the play...

They are anxiously awaiting their turn to line up...

Asher (in the red vest) with his preschool buddies.

The anticipation is too much for Abbie (in the middle).
She has such an important part that she plans to play that no one knows about!

I don't have one of Chloe in her class. Did you know that she is too old for that? I didn't.

And now presenting....

Starring:

Asher Forrest Smith- Preschool-choir


Abigail Geneva Smith- Kindergarten- choir and her surprise role as "the girl in the red bow" (explanation below)


and
Chloe Irene Smith- 2nd grade- choir and playing the baby sister, Kelly

We were very proud of Chloe. There were only 8 speaking parts for the entire school
(1st-12th). She was casted as the 5 year old baby sister, mostly due to her small size, but she didn't miss a single line. She also did an excellent job speaking up where everyone could hear her.

Quiet, Please! The show is about to start!

After the play, I was "the mom of the girl in the red bow". Chloe was the one with the speaking part, but Abbie stole the role as "the star of the show" from everyone who had a part. I am serious! I am not just bragging on my child. Believe me; I was a little embarassed at times. She really got into her singing. She was sooooo loud.She projected very well, one parent told me. Even when all 53 students were singing, the main voice was Abbie. It was like we were listening to "Abbie, the girl in the red bow, and her back up singers the BBA Choir." We laughed and laughed along with everyone else. She had no clue. She was just having a good time!! I do have a video of her singing. I am going to try to figure out how to put it on here sometime today. I haven't advanced that far in the blogging world yet. For another example, I can't figure out why all of this writing is large. I didn't set it that way, but I can't get it to change. It happens again at the bottom of this post.
The kids had to sit and wait patiently while the junior high and high school kids were singing. During Silent Night, they played with--I mean held-- candles.

Joy to the World and Merry Christmas!

The End

Thank You for Coming.

During the show sometimes Justus watched intently.
And other times he did not. Here he is eating his fruit snacks.


Afterwards we all gathered in the classrooms and fellowship hall to look at the kids artwork and enjoy cookies and milk. --- By the way, I had the absolute best cookies. They were chocolate with peppermint patties in them. I am going to search for a recipe. Does anyone have one?

Here is the gingerbread house that Asher's class made. Very cute!!! The kids and I usually attempt to make one of these during the Christmas break. Ours doesn't quite turn out like this though.

After a long night of being the mother of such stars, I am glad to be home in my favorite sweatshirt and pj's.

Good Night!