from us to you. :)

  

The holidays have been very busy for us, as has getting back into the swing of things with school since I've been pretty sick for the past week. I'm not sure when I'll start back posting regularly, so I just wanted to share a few pictures from Christmas and say that I hope everyone had a very wonderful holiday season and happy new year! :)

I hope you are all able to reflect on the past year and go into 2012 with a fresh outlook and new goals. And that you have a very blessed new year.

From our family to y'all, thanks for following and sharing in our lives with us! And we can't wait to see what's in store!

the MOST wonderful time of the year.

I love Christmas and I love decorating, but I'm not one of those people who likes to go crazy and cover the house with kitsch or theme it up or go with a ton of gitz and glam. Not that those are bad things, I love seeing all different kinds of decorations and think they're all great! But I try and keep things simple. That's just how I like it at home. And I've been slowly adding things around to get us in the holiday spirit. Because this is absolutely my favorite time EVER.

So I'm sharing with y'all because it's Christmas...and why not?! :)

our front door. (i keep the wreath and change the decorations out with the seasons.)

our back door. (i made this for $6 total!)

our windows at night. i love candles. :)

we're ready for all the cards! (totally stole this idea from pinterest.)

love came down.
(this manger scene has been around for as long as i can remember. i had it in my room and used to turn it on when i went to sleep. and i hope our children can do the same.)

Now I just need to put up some lights and we'll be good to go. :)

How do y'all decorate?
I would love to hear about it! And if you have pictures on your blog of your decorations, PLEASE link back! It would be great to see how you make your homes special for the holidays and how each of you make the decorating experience unique to yourselves.

packing boxes!

Hey guys! Life has been extremely crazy and I've kind of fallen off the blogosphere. I've missed y'all! I just wanted to update everyone and let you know what's been going on with us lately.

I've been working hard at school. And Nate's studying hard and working hard. He took a test the weekend before last to get certified in Business Analysis and passed on the first try which was super exciting! He had put so much time preparing for it and put so much energy into it, so I'm super proud of him for passing.

We're also getting ready to drop off our Operation Christmas Child boxes. I haven't been blogging about this as much as I've wanted because things have been so busy, but we're almost ready to drop everything off now! Our goal was 50 boxes originally. Due to some changes we made in our budget, we ended up cutting our goal back to 25, which we met! We had a lot of help from our family and friends and have managed to exceed that goal! My parents helped us purchase a TON of things to put in the boxes. And our AWESOME friends Ben and Heather contributed two more boxes. And then Nate's mom and sisters filled ELEVEN more boxes. The wonderful Laura and her husband over at unpunctuated life. are also filling boxes for OCC. So even though we had to cut our goal in half this year, we still ended up almost reaching fifty with the help of everyone who joined in the cause! And it was so great to work together with everyone and see everyone help out in their own special way! :)

 

Here I am filling boxes.

And here's the assembly line Nate made!

And here is Chloe "helping out." Really, she's inspecting what's going in the boxes to see what she can sneak back into her crate.

This has been such a great experience and we've learned a lot. We definitely want to do it again and we know much more about how to do things better and more effectively next year. We're really excited about dropping off the boxes so they can make their way off to the children!

I'm going to try and start posting some more. And hopefully I can get another "Thrifting Thursday" post up again this week because I found something AWESOME I want to share with y'all. Hope everything is going well with everyone! Miss you guys!

Our Uncomfortable Giving Challenge!!!!!

Our Giving Challenge

Steph and I truly enjoy the process of giving to those in need. Especially when it involves children. We have been scheming and strategizing a giving challenge that will stretch us and we think we have come up with a pretty fun project :-) We have given shoe boxes filled with Christmas presents for needy children all across the world as part of Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child in the past and it is a rewarding experience (if you have never participated, give it a shot this year!). All we have to do is fill shoe boxes with lots of presents and goodies and make a small donation and Samaritan’s Purse makes sure the gift puts a smile on a needy child's face somewhere around the world (they even say you can track your shoe box now! How awesome!). Their mission is totally aligned with Steph's and my values:

"The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ."

Here is a link to their FAQ and a video if you are interested!

Steph has been in a really giving mood lately and it has been contagious for me. While I was running on the treadmill last night it came to me, "STEPH - LET'S JOIN OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD AND GIVE A BUNCH OF SHOE BOXES TO NEEDY KIDS THIS CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!”

She was sold on the idea pretty quickly. I mean it involves helping children the world has forgotten so I am pretty sure I could have said, "Let's sell everything we own and help the children" and she would have said yes... ;-) We agreed on a goal that feels very UNcomfortable for us: 50 shoe boxes. It just kinda feels impossible (and maybe it is). That's kind of the point of any challenging goal. It should feel just on the edge of impossible! But we don't really care and we are going to do everything we can with family and friends to make this project come true. What's the worst case scenario? We only get 29 boxes sent out for children who wouldn't otherwise have Christmas presents this year?! Only 29 children were able to see the warm caring smile of a Samaritan’s Purse volunteer reach down, give them a gift and tell them about the greatest Gift of all: Christ Jesus? Seems like a win-win situation any way you slice this deal!

So here goes; the shoe store will be our first stop to see if they are cool with giving us a bunch of free empty shoe boxes :-)

FYI if you want to join us with this project just shoot Steph an email (or call) and she will hook you up! We’re pretty sure our family will be jacked up about the idea as well (they have been giving through Operation Christmas Child for years).

YEAHHHHHHH BOYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! We are really excited about this.

We will definitely make sure to keep you updated as we start filling shoe boxes.

LET GO OF THE PEANUTS MONKEYYYYYY; and Something about Scrooge!!!

A friend of mine was telling me a pretty awesome story the other day about how African hunters catch monkeys. Basically they hollow out and put a hole on one side of a coconut. They then place some peanuts or oranges etc. into the coconut and secure it to a tree. Along comes an unsuspecting monkey slipping his hand into the coconut to get his treats. The problem arises when he makes a fist to pick up the food his hand can't get out of the trap... The monkey will jump all over the place trying to get out of the trap -- little does he know that if he would only let go of the food his hand would slip right out... Along comes the hunter. Finding the monkey still with his tight fist in the coconut; the hunter now has dinner :-)

That story always reminds me of how we can be with money (and material things.... and time.....) sometimes. I think it’s human nature to hoard and stake out "what's ours"... We get new clothes but struggle to let go of some of the pieces, “We might wear someday”. We want new cars; we want a new house; we want new furniture to put in the new house; we want our kids to have the best the world has to offer. We aren’t hurting anybody, but we want what we want and we want it now! The irony is that it's only when we LET GO that we truly experience what it’s like to be FREE (just like the monkey my friend told me about haha)! We have to take care of ourselves and provide for our families of course. But once our needs are met -- it is truly a freeing experience to begin helping meet the needs of those around us.

Ever seen how OVERJOYED Scrooge was in the story of A Christmas Carol when he finally opens his tightly held grip over his money and possessions? The guy is on cloud nine, he is literally a new man!

Giving has not always been easy for me or Steph. While we have never been like Scrooge (I hope!), we sure have passed up many opportunities to help those around us when we have the ability. And let's be honest, as citizens of the United States of America most of us (not all) have our basic needs met every day. We have not always actively engaged in giving as we do now. Honestly (and selfishly) we knew it was something we should do more of, but we didn't realize the fringe benefits of giving: joy, peace and contentment that surpasses logical understanding.

In the last couple of years God has truly given us a heart for people. We love people. We love you. We love these children we don't know (and probably will never know); we plan on helping make a difference in their lives this year. I hope you too are enjoying making a difference in someone's life today (this week, this year...)!

Your Giving Challenge

My challenge to you is to start giving. Period. I can't tell how significantly it will change your life to let go of something you have and invest in the life of another human being. Best investment you will ever make. It doesn't really matter if it's buying the meal for the person behind you in the drive-through @ Chick-fil-A or WHATEVER. The act of serving and helping others through giving will CHANGE YOUR FREEKN' LIFE!!! Do you have $5 in your pocket? Give half of it to someone in need today and see how it makes YOU feel (not to mention how the other person feels). You may change someone else's life through your generosity; you most certainly will change your own. I promise you that. If it doesn't, give me a call and I will pay you back every red cent you used to help someone else.

Just try it -- start with $5 and get rolling baby!

Tell us about your experience with giving. Who did you help? What did you give (time, money, skills etc.?)? HOW DID IT MAKE YOU FEEL? We really want to hear your stories so bring them on.

PS. Hey - Steph here! :) If any of you would like to help out, go to the the top and check out our OCC Project page for how you can help and for my contact information!

there's no place like home for the holidays.

So this holiday season has been pretty wonderful.

Nate and I have been blessed with his new job. We discovered that we're a little over a month away from paying off another student loan, meaning there will only be ONE left. I got to spend extra time with my three amazing kids the week before Christmas. Nate and I got to spend three days in Columbia with the family. We got to see parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. We were blessed enough to be able to afford to give gifts and cards to everyone. We enjoyed a lot of good food and good times with family. It even snowed in COLUMBIA the day after Christmas - and the snow stuck!

Now I am taking my day off to recover from the past weekend and get everything in the apartment back in order.

And I figured I'd move on to truth number six since it's been awhile...

6. Something you hope you never have to do.
I hope I never have to move somewhere north of the Mason Dixon Line. I HATE cold weather.

Chloe, on the other hand, LOVES it. Abby? Not so much. Last year, Abby was the one running through the snow and playing in it while I had to hold Chloe just to keep her warm. This year was the exact opposite.

Now it is time for me to do some more housework and get some running in before the hubby gets home. I will leave you with some pretty insightful words that were on Dave Ramsey's Facebook today:

"Not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will you embrace change."

What words of wisdom have had a great impact on your decision making and how you live your life?

Also, I got a Barnes and Noble nook for Christmas. So if anyone else has one, let me know! I want to figure out this whole book sharing thing.

it's christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you! We hope it is filled with joy, peace and love! And thankfulness - not just for friends and family and all that you receive during this blessed time, but for the most wonderful Gift of all. :)

christmas is just around the corner...

So, if anyone would like to buy me something very special for Christmas, I would like these:

You can order them from the website. Or you can get them at Nordstrom. They're only $458 so you'll have plenty of time to save between now and Christmas. Oh, and I wear a 9. Thanks. :)