Peace that Passes Understanding

"He says: the heart is desperately wicked, who can understand it?"  Jeremiah 17: 9. 

God can be the only one to make sense of the recent tragedy in Connecticut. Only He can understand the hearts of men and our choices.

Our hearts go out to those precious children and inncocent teachers and staff who were murdered.

We must allow Christ back into our hearts and our soul as a nation. Schools cannot protect us, police cannot protect us. But He can save us if only we open our hearts.

Christmas Excitement!

First of all we are praying for those beautiful children and teachers in Connecticut... what a horrible tragedy. I held my babies close today and just prayed for comfort for those families.

Today we made a lot of fun Christmas crafts. Vivian and I worked on painting some pretty pictures of a Christmas wreath, we made jingle bell jewelry, and most importantly, we made homemade playdough ornaments.

Our ornaments came out really great. We did 4 colors, pink, blue, green, and yellow. Our shapes were a candy cane, a Christmas tree, a star, and a gingerbread man.

The ornaments were super easy to make. I found the recipe online. Basically it's homemade playdough that you roll out in to shapes and bake. I baked them at 250 for about 2 hours.



Vivian likes to roll out the dough. Yellow was for gingerbread men.



These are the trees. They look good enough to eat, but are mostly salt, flour, and cream of tartar. So... probably wouldn't taste too good. :)



I used a straw to cut out the holes for the string so we can decorate the tree with them.

Here, Vivian is stringing some jingle bells on some silver cord. She is already wearing her beautiful jingle bell bracelet and ring.

Henry supervised all of the projects. :-)

Preparing the way

This weekend Nick and I were talking about how important it is to make sure our children know Jesus and how Christmas is not just for presents and Santa. We were working with Vivian to make sure she understands it is Jesus' birthday, and not simply a time for Frosty and Rudolph.

I love all the old children's cartoons and so does Nick, but I realized something this last week as I watched some of the new ones. These shows on TV have "Holiday Specials," and they usually pertain to something or someone 'saving Christmas.' Or it's about some little animated animal delivering presents or doing something 'magical.' I also saw a couple of instances where one show was teaching about the origins of Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. They got the information about Hannukah and Kwanzaa correct, in that they are religious holidays, but for Christmas, all that was taught was that it was the time when Santa comes to deliver gifts, and it's about giving to others and decorating the tree.

This made me mad. Why is it offensive to tell children on secular shows about the goodness and true miracle of Christmas? It is something that is more often than not ignored or simply left out. Why is it ok to teach about the menorah, but not the simplicity and filth of our Great God humbling himself to be born into a cattle stall?

As a new mother once again, and now with two children, I can see the wonder and awe of Christ's birth in a whole new light. Mary was not expecting to give birth yet... she had nothing with her to even clothe her new child. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes... rags, and they laid him in a TROUGH!

I am always obsessing about what Henry will wear, and does he have spit-up on his shoulder? Is his diaper dry? Did I make sure to wash his clothes in Dreft? Are his nails trimmed?

Last night we had dinner out, and I took Henry to the restroom to change him. I had everything I needed except baby wipes. I had left them in the car. I had a brief freak-out moment... and then it came to me: Mary did not have these things. What did she wipe her baby's bottom with? The Lord of Lords, the King of Creation, the Almight God, the Prince of Peace didn't have any of these luxuries.

I am humbled to the point of pure shame, where I have realized all that I have, and all that I enjoy, and that my Lord, Jesus Christ, walked this earth in the most humble of bodies, in a time when comfort was not an everyday occurance.

I know I'm rambling, but to get to the point... this Christmas means more to me than ever, and I hope I can express this joy and love to my children so that they truly understand in their hearts the magnitude of this Awesome gift.

More beautiful than any earthly gift could ever be: this precious gift from our Father.

Post-Thanksgiving Update!

Sorry, everyone. It has been a while since I posted. But I have finally gotten a chance to download some pictures and get them on here.

We had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Deboy's. Nick is super busy right now with work. This is 'peak' for FedEx. Obviously everyone is sending packages and ordering all kinds of stuff. So my husband is sort-of Santa Claus for a whole month.... yaaaayyyy. (Which means we see him for about 15 minutes each evening and Sundays.)

Last weekend we all attended a Fashion Show at BSU that was produced by a class David is in. This has been their semester project to design, market, and advertise the entire event. We had a great time! David was in charge of picking out who was going to model. So of course, he excelled at that. Only BEAUTIFUL leggy women were on the catwalk. ;)

Dad was a little out of his element at the fashion show. Mom and I thought he should get up and strut his stuff since the show was titled "Made in the Midwest," and Dad is like, the epitome of Midwest essence. His steel-toed boots and wrangler jeans were quite the statement pieces. (haha)

Henry is quite the little colicky baby boy. We are doing ok, but it seems he has developed quite a set of lungs. I have been trying some soy formula with him, but really haven't seen much of a difference.

I've been back on WW officially (paying member) for the last week, and I weighed in this morning and found I have lost 7 pounds. So, I think I'm going to continue nursing Hanky Panky until the rest of this weight sheds. :)

Have a wonderful weekend! We are decorating our Christmas tree tomorrow!!!!

Dad and Henry at Thanksgiving.

Kaitlyn was able to pour water efficiently. So she gets to stay. :)

Vivian was pooped after we got home.

Our view of the stage at the Fashion Show. Pretty neat!

Backstage after the show. David introduced us to his friend Sarah. She was one of the models.

Mommy!

The boys...

Excited to go eat.

It's PEAK!

Haven't posted in a while- sorry. First, the kids have been sick, then Thanksgiving, then sick Vivian again. It was just great. :)

Thanksgiving was awesome this year. It's always good when someone else cooks, but when they cook excellent Thanksgiving dishes, it's even better. We brought some lemon squares and a cheese ball which seemed to go over well. Might have to make the cheese ball again for Christmas. I also found a yummy-looking recipe for a chocolate yule log that is low points plus that I think we will bring to Christmas dinner as well.

It was a lot of fun to see everyone for Thanksgiving, and even though Vivers wasn't feeling her best, she had fun staying at Mamaw Millie's house. Henry did pretty well considering he was out of his element and comfort zone.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving Mom and Kaitlynn and I went wedding dress shopping. SO MUCH FUN! We watched her try on a ton of dresses, and there was one that was a definite favorite in style and class. It was a great day. We had some yummy lunch at O'Charley's, which was excellent. I haven't eaten there in at least a year. (We don't have one in Muncie.) Their cheddar-baked-potato soup is my favorite, and they have the best rolls. I could inhale about ten of them and still want more.

She will be a beautiful bride! :)

Anyway, dress shopping was great, and we hope Kaitlynn is able to pick her favorite and order it soon!

Vivian seems to be over her 2nd sickness finally. There for a couple of days she was just completely lethargic and feverish. I think she just had a touch of flu. She didn't want to eat, just drank, and took tylenol. We took her to the doctor again, but everything was clear, so there wasn't anything to treat. But now she seems back to her old self- loud, running around, eating, happy, etc. I was so relieved when she came out of her room wanting to wear her princess dress and eat some cookies. It's weird when she doesn't feel good.

Ah-CHoo!

Well, everyone seeeeeems to be pulling through this outbreak of colds at our house.

We took both kids to the doctor yesterday. Both have ear infections and colds. Both were prescribed antibiotics. Henry got the pink amoxicillin, and Vivian got augmenten. She was upset that her medicine wasn't pink like baby brother's.

Poor little kiddos have been sleepy and cranky. Today Henry went back for a double check, and our doctor said he is doing much better.

He's helping me in the kitchen while Vivi takes a nap.

Ewwwww.... Mommy has to check my temp the icky way. :(

Sickly Kids... all 3 of them!

Well, Vivian has had a cold for about 3 days, and Henry started showing signs of it last night. I was up with him quite a bit. Nick called yesterday on his way home to let me know that he wasn't feeling well either.

Soooooo... all day Mommy has been tending to her 3 babies. Henry seems pretty much fine, just a little conjested, so he has gotten some nasal drops. Vivian has been taking a homepathic remedy since she isn't old enough to take regular cold medicine yet. She is playing and acting just about normal, except for the runny nose.

Nick has been extra whiny, and has the headache and runny nose too. He took some alka seltzer and has been drinking some ginger ale all day. I made some homemade chicken noodle soup for us for dinner to help with the sickness...

It was a lot of fun actually to make. I like to cook when I'm not exhausted from work. So if it seems like I'm posting about food a lot, I'm sure it will stop when I go back to work. :) (And we go back to hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.)

This was my first attempt at making my own broth- I usually just buy it and go from there, but today I did it all from scratch. I also made my own noodles... so they are kind-of misshapen, but they tasted very yummy.

Nick paid the ultimate compliment to me. He said when I set the bowl of soup in front of him, he felt like he was 5 years old and at his Great Grandma's house, since she used to make her own chicken and noodle soup with her own noodles, too. That made me feel great! Maybe he'll get lucky and I'll make it again someday. :)

I know! It even looks good!



Mmm-mmm good. Nick had 3 bowls of it, and Vivian liked the noodles.




Henry has on his Notre Dame 'tie.' I'm sure he's wishing he could have some soup, too.



Vivian--- the girl with the chocolate smile. (She had some M&Ms after dinner.)