Our Christms tree

Each year, in December, families all across our nation gather together to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. One of the most visible symbols of this holiday season is the Christmas tree. This evergreen tree is placed in a position of prominence in our homes and decorated with lights and ornaments as a part of the festive nature of the Christmas season.
However, this tree is a far cry from the original "Christmas Tree." For you see, the first Christmas tree was not a beautiful evergreen found in some quiet spot in the woods. Rather, it was a piece of rough-hewn wood with no natural beauty whatsoever. Its sole purpose was to bring misery and pain and eventually death, and its only beauty was in the purpose for which God was using it.
Instead of being decorated with lights and ornaments, upon the two limbs of this tree hung the Light of the World. His body beaten and bruised by the Roman soldiers responsible for his punishment. Beneath this tree there was no skirt of soft white cloth representing snow. No, the ground beneath this tree was stained crimson red by the blood being shed for the remission of the sins of the world.
When we stand around the tree and sing Christmas carols, those standing around this tree were hurling insults and blasphemies. The bible says they mocked him, and said "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross" (Matt 27:40) Even those who were being crucified with him showed him no mercy.
Nowadays we place gifts under our Christmas tree, but tradition has it that in the past small gifts were tied to the branches of the tree for children to search for and find. This is the only similarity between our Christmas tree and the true Christmas tree. The greatest gift of all time was "tied" to the branches of the tree on Golgotha. There, Jesus died for our sins that we might be able to be reunited with him for all eternity. This gift was freely given, and unlike the gifts we give one another, this gift is still active and available today.
As you look at your Christmas tree this year, don't let your gaze stop at the lights and decorations, look "through" it to the true Christmas tree.
Today, our family bought our evergreen Christmas tree. This was definatley the earliest we ever put it up. We went to the Christmas tree lot and happened to find the perfect one. I think Erin and I claim that we find the perfect tree every year. Well, this year I think we did. It is by far the greenest evergreen tree we have ever had and the most moist. We also knew this was the tree for us , when we noticed two lady bugs on it. (Timeri has sense claimed one as her pet...hopefully, she will let it go in our yard.) We brought our beautiful evergreen tree home and spent the rest of the day decoating it. I also decorated a smaller tree in honor of my mom. I put handmade oranments on it, that she had made me for me, from years prior. It is my little angel tree in honor of my mom, Monya. I miss her dearly. It is extremely hard, since this was her favorite time of year. The time to celebrate our king's birth. In addition, it is almost her two year anniversary to entering her dwelling place in heaven with the Almighty. I love you mom with all my heart, and continue to look forward to feel your warm embrace. I am greatful you prayed for me and our family. I joyfully embrace the truth that you endeared to me.

Merry Christmas !

Thanksgiving

What is Thanksgiving ?
We have all made attmepts to make Thanksgiving more exciting. Buying Thanksgiving decorations and then there is always the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. Sometimes it seems like the only purpose of Thanksgiving is to eat turkey, watch football, and let it be the kick off to the Christmas shopping season. Sometimes people even call Thanksgiving “Turkey Day.”
Thanksgiving, to me is so much more than this. Thanksgiving is all about God and thanking him for the gifts of life, love, joy, and more. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful and having an attitude of gratitude. Yes, we get to see family and friends and we get to eat a great meal. But our central purpose should be to give thanks to God.
I want to be a model of thankfulness to my children. This means being thankful no matter what our situation in life. Thankfulness means that we are aware of both our blessings and disappointments but that we focus on the blessings. On the path of life, it maybe hard to be thankful, like when the children are squabbling and tattling on each other, or a job that is over working you or underpaying you, or a dear friend that you have lost touch with. At times it may be hard to be thankful. I want my husband and children to know that I am thankful for them, for our home, and for the other good things that we are blessed with in our life. I am thankful for all of my family and good friends. I am also thankful for our wonderful country we live in and that we have freedom. Also, that we have wonderful teachers educating our kids, which happen to be the most underpaid employees. I encourage our kids to give thanks to God at Thanksgiving and to set aside time each day to pray and give thanks to Him for all the things He does for us.
This Thanksgiving, our family spent the day at Grammie Ginger and Papa Bills'. They invited us to partake in their familys' Thanksgiving. The kids loved going there, especially knowing that they would be able to go swimming in their pool with their cousins Cole and Chloe. We were all greatful for their hospitality. I greatly appreciated Grammie Ginger's friend Inge setting time aside for me to teach me how to knit. The food was great and everyone participated in the "Tree of Thanks". Which intailed grabbing a leaf and expressing what you were thankful for on it. Thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation 1863

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the LORD.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to, feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

--Abraham Lincoln - October 3, 1863

Grammie and Papa's

Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go... Except this time we drove under a rainbow. I love seeing rainbows. It is a reminder of God's promise that he will not flood the earth again. We went to Grammie and Papa's house to spend the day. The kids ate everything under the sun when they got there. Kept waitress Grammie busy for a while. The kids played in the back yard. Timeri played with Grammies beautiful dolls. I found Timeri in the stairway talking to the one, saying "Ok, sister you sit down". Timeri would love a little sister. Poor thing has all these boys around her. She asks Erin all the time, can you get me a baby sister. I am sure in the future she will love all the boys around. Grammies brother, Kevin was in town and came by to visit. I think it had been two years since he had seen the kids last. They didn't remember him, but by the end of the night they loved him and were excited to learn they were related to him. We all met up with our favorite Great Grandpa Don and Auntie Diane at Wahoo's at Crystal Court in South Coast Plaza. Our traditional dinner we always have with them. The mall had all the Christmas decorations, Santa and a train ride. And of course, the kids had to ride the train. The classic part was when Caden said "Lame" about riding the train. Funny and sad at the same time. Funny that it was just last year that he rode it, and sad that he is no longer the little boy that enjoyed it. Overall, it was a great day. The night ended with Erin and I making multiple trips to the bathroom before our ride home.

Santa said "Teach the Children"

 

Santa said "Teach the children the old meaning of Christmas." The fir tree, the pure green colour remains green all year round, representing the everlasting hope of mankind, and the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning towards heaven. The star, the heavenlly sign of promises long a go. God promised a saviour for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise. The candle, symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of Jesus who fills our lives with light. The wreath, symbolizes the real nature of love. Real love never ceases, like God's love which has no beginning or end. Santa Claus symbolizes the generosity and kindness we feel during the month of December. The holly leaf, which comes from the holly plant represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Saviour. The red holly represents the blood shed by Him. The gift, that God so loved the world that HE gave us HIS only SON... we thank God for this very special gift. The wise men bowed before the Holy baby and gave HIM gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We should always give gifts in the same spirit of the wise men. The candy cane, symbolizes the shepard's crook. The crook of the staff helps to bring back lost sheep to the flock. The angel, symbolizes the angels that announced the glorious news of the Saviours birth. The angels sang "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men. The bell, lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring to guide us to God. The bell, symbolizes guidance and return. It reminds us that we are all precious in the eyes of God. Santa said,"Remember, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship HIM, our LORD, our GOD.

Christmas is coming

Yesterday, Erin and I brought out all the Christmas decorations. Everything is out minus the tree. Every year, we have been setting up the GeoTrax train set in the front family room. The set origianlly belonged to Caden and Davin. The set is so big, that it is really the only time we set the entire thing up. It needs a big open space for everything. We occasionally, set up a small track upstairs for Slater to play with. Anyways, we brought it all out yesterday. Slater has forever been playing with it since. There is four different trains that go at the same time, that he tries his best to control all of them before they accidentally collide. Its great and keeps him occupied for quite a while.

 

Disneyland

Erin and I were both down for the count with this flu that has been going around. We contimplated taking the kids to Disneyland because after Thanksgiving it was pretty much blocked out and or extremely crowded. So, we decided to go for it. The kids missed school and we told the kids we had to take them with us to daddy's doctor's appointment for his ear. We drove into the parking structure at Disneyland and they were shocked to see where we were. I told Erin, you made the wrong turn... better turn around. It was funny, but the kids were really excited. After, being there for about an hour Erin did leave to go to his doctors appointment. It was me and the kids for the next few hours at the happiest place on earth. We love Disneyland and California Adventure!! One of the highlights for this visit was riding Monsters Inc., and having it break down. We were stuck right in the middle of it. We were then escorted out. The kids were excited to walk through it. We then went to Bugs land. Then off to Paradise Pier. Their absolute favorite ride was the new Toy Story ride. We actually rode it a few times. A few hours had passed and we were joined again with Erin. The kids played in the Grizzly park, rode a few more rides and then we were headed to Disneyland Park. We rode a handful of rides there. The kids loved the Nemo ride, Indiana Jones and making me extremely dizzy on the teacups. The night ended with a sectacular firework show. It was awesome !! Amazingly the kids were all on their best behavior until midnight. I am shocked they all made it that late. We usually head out of the park by 7:30.

AWANA

Every Wednesday night we go to church. There is a service for the adults and the kids go to AWANA. AWANA stands for "Approved Workmen that Are Not Ashamed" 2 Timothy 2:15. It is a weekly club, or program that teaches the Bible to preschool through high school students. The goal of AWANA is that the students would come to know, love and serve Jesus Christ as Lord. There is an actual curriculum that the kids follow to learn and memorize bible verses. Once they memorize their first verse they are given a vest. From then on, as they memorize more they receive patches and jewels to put on their vest. I love all of it and I know one of the kids highlights during the week is going to AWANA. The cutest, well they are all cute with it, but its Slater. He knows his verses. He is my baby and I can't believe what he does. I wish I could call my mom to tell her how cute they all are with it. I know once we are together again, I will have tons to share with her.

 

Heart failure

It all started with me going to Caden's parent teacher conference. I left and Erin stayed at home with the kids. While at the conference, my cell phone kept ringing. I didn't want to be rude to the teacher so I just let it go to voicemail. Finally, on my way out, it rang again. I answered it and Erin asked me if I had Timeri with me. I told him no. And then he told me she was missing for 30 minutes. When I came down the street Erin and all the neighbors were out searching every where. Everyone was calling her name. The boys and some of their friends rode their bikes up and down the streets looking. My neighbor from a few blocks away was even on the hunt for Timeri. Erin stayed at home incase any one came back with her or a sighting. I drove frantically around our entire development, praying. That is the only thing I could do to keep the awful thoughts from entering my mind. I was thinking she possibly wondered off and got confused with the streets. I drove to the closest park, asking and searching. NOTHING ! I went back to the car and my nerves were on edge, I felt like my body was going to throw up my stomach. I just kept praying, and pleading that this was not the plan the Lord had for our daughter and our family. As I left the park, I thought I would be going back home and Erin and I would be calling the police. I drove down our street and there was Erin with Timeri in his arms. I know Erin was stressed too. He was dripping with sweat. Timeri was crying. He said he had found her hiding in the bush near our front door. The color of her shirt caught his eye. He asked her why she didn't say anything when everyone was shouting her name. She said she was just playing hide n seek. Erin and I were so upset with her but, overwelmed with happiness that we found her. Oh the wondeful joys of being a parent. I give praises to God that it was an innocent hide n seek and not the awful situations that crossed both of our minds.

 

Mulligan's

The boys had a shortened day at school today, so we took them to Mulligan's. They ran around and played video games and tried to win as many tickets as they could to get a prize from the prize counter. We then, went outside and played minature golf. Walking up to the couse Erin had said "Let's see how this goes". Well it was going great Slater even hit a hole in one. And then, Caden decided to hit the ball as hard as he could. It ricocheted off of a rock and flew back and hit the little house on the course then bounced into the water. Thankfully, noone was around to get hit in the head. From there we went to play Lasertag. Slater put on the vest and played as well. Timeri thought the vest was too heavy to wear. Erin took the boys on the go-carts. That was a lot of fun for them. Then we went into the kiddie area some Timeri and Slater could ride some rides. That is when the funniest thing happened. Davin went on the teacups with Slater and Timeri. Davin spun the cup as fast as he could. Everytime they passed by Timeri's eyes were looking VERY dizzy. She started to cry a little bit, then she slouched. The attendant was stopping the ride... and then bam ! She fell forward and hit her head on the center spinning wheel. She was so dizzy. She was ok. It was really funny. Then she got back on and went on her own teacup. The kids had a great time as usual.

Paka

Well, we went up to my dad's again this weekend. There was a lot of fires going on in southern California. The fires came relatively close to my dad's house yesterday. Erin, the kids and I drove up there today just to spend the day with him. The most favorite thing the kids love about going to his house is the packs of hum that he gives them. As soon as they get to his front door they start requesting for it. Once, they get the gum, they pull out the cars and the cards that they always to play with. Timeri always seems to pull out markers to draw with or a book to read, requesting him to do either. It is quite funny, how they request his attention all at once. I know it might be overwhelming, but I know he loves it. Here is Paka and Timeri.

 

Paka and his grandkids...

 

Fires

The highlight of our trip to Paka's this time was driving up above his house to watch the helicopters land to fuel up and fill up with water. THE KIDS LOVED WATCHING ! The helicopters were flying in constantly. And actually, at one point two landed at one time. It was very exciting for the kids to watch this. They would clap and cheer for the firefighters everytime they landed. Way to go fire fighters !!!

Gretchen

Here is my friend Gretchen and I... one of my partner's in crime. Gretchen is such a good friend of mine. I love her !!! Gretchen has always been an ear for me to vent to, a hug and a prayer partner to turn to. Well, Gretchen had a spa party. A few friends went and we had a great time. Her best friend Tiffany was a riot. I love spending time with people who have a quarky sense of humor. It was a nothing hold back laughing time. A much needed girl time. At the end of the night, I didn't want it to end, and thought it should have turned into a slumber party... WITHOUT KIDS !! YAY !!

 

Here we are in the middle of our spa treatments

 

 

Caden's soccer party

Tonight was Caden's soccer team end of the season party. It was held at the coaches house. They were nice enough to heat their pool... in November. Who would have ever thought November we'd be swimming. The weather today was in the low 90's... Only in California...not that we are planning on a great ski season or anything. Here is Caden and the best coach ever that he has had Coach Darren Darago.

 

Caden and his buddy Fischer.

 

Caden and Davin swimming... or planning to jump.

 

Caden and Fischer ready to do cannon balls.

 

Slater perfecting summersaults in the water

 

Timeri being silly.

 

Erin's ear

Well, the surgery went well. this is how he came home. Looked like he got his ear's clipped...hahaha... I asked him if the Dr. sent him home with a cone for his head. I thought it was funny.

 

He removed the bandage. NASTY ! They actually, sewed a button to the front and back of his ear to act like a clamp on his ear. I guess to maybe tighten the skin back down to the cartlige of his ear. OUCH !!

 

 

He is doing ok. He is in a lot of pain. His ear looks a lilttle swollen. He will survive. The white pearalized button freaks me out a little bit, it looks very unusual.

Erin's ear

 

One day Erin came to me and asked me to look at his ear. He wanted to know if it looked like a bug bite. It was a little swollen. It possibly looked like a bug bite or a little pimple. A few days later when he was at work fighting a fire, his ear really started bothering him. His helmet had put a lot of pressure on his ear. It had caused his ear to totally swell up. His crew actually took him to the ER,to have it drained. They couldn't do anything for him and suggested him to go to a specialist. Then, to find out he has a cyst on his ear. He is having it removed tomorrow. He had a similar cyst on behind his ear when he was a child. I pray that God watches over him tomorrow and the doctors remove everything on his ear.

The crazy twosome

 

Well, here is my googleberry doing his normal thing... being a monkey. The day prior he walked into the stucco of our house and scraped his nose pretty bad. But, as usual Slater is on the go.

 

Timeri, looking as adorable as she can with her precious little freckled nose.