Category: kids

My Relaxing Thanksgiving

This past weekend was one of the most enjoyable, relaxing Thanksgiving weekends I’ve ever had. Stress? What’s that? Not a drop to be found anywhere. God is good and I am grateful.

Wednesday I finished up my Thanksgiving meal prep with a Nathan early in the morning before the store got to be madness. Then I worked, trying to tie up loose ends on projects before the long holiday. After the kids went to bed we had a little budget meeting to plan for our Christmas gift giving.

Thanksgiving morning I got up before dawn to head over to our YMCA and volunteer at the local Turkey Dash. I wish I were able to run the 5k, but I’m glad I was able to share information about our upcoming Run 4 the Children in March with the 4000 or so runners that day. Those runners are the perfect target audience for our four mile race benefiting our 1:17 adoption ministry, and it was encouraging hearing so many respond so positively to my solicitation.

Then I headed home and cooked up a storm. I like to do a very traditional and simple Thanksgiving feast, wish turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, green beans, salad, cranberry sauce and rolls. It really isn’t hard to do at all. I use the turkey sized oven bags which make the bird cook faster, more evenly and keep it nice and moist with no basting necessary. This year we used Mike’s awesome wireless digital meat thermometer which told us exactly when the bird was done. It was the best turkey I’ve ever cooked…incredibly moist and flavorful.

Mike drove over and picked up my grandparents and his cousin Vicki joined us too. We also had our friends’ pug, Romeo, which made for much added entertainment. My kind, serving husband did most of the clean-up, which is a huge job when you’re handwashing all that china, sterling silver and crystal, not to mention a million pots and pans. Then he drove my grandparents home while I put the kiddos to bed.

A Small Dose of Black Friday

As soon as he was back I headed over to my local Target and camped out in line for their midnight opening. I met some very nice people and happened to be in line next to some neighbors I hadn’t spoken to in a couple years. Everything was totally calm and pleasant except for the chain smokers in front of us that triggered a massive allergy attack in me, but no worries I had a big box of tissues in my car. The weather was perfect for me though several of the folks around me thought it was super cold. It wasn’t. It was like 55.

I got the Xbox on sale I wanted and the very last free Wipeout game in the store. They only had about four….they were totally unprepared for that deal. So I saved about $200 on our family Christmas gift…I would have been just sitting at home watching TV otherwise. Also managed to get a spare set of 550 thread count king sized sheets, which we really did need since our only spare set ripped last month, for only $35.

The rest of the weekend was spent at home decorating for Christmas. The kids are finally old enough to be a HUGE help, especially with the trees (there are four of them). The inside of the house was done on Saturday and the outside lights went up after church on Sunday and everything looks so beautiful and festive.

Advent Conspiracy

And church…church was amazing. I think Advent is my favorite time of the year. The anticipation of Christ’s coming to earth fills us with such hope. The story of Christmas, the real story of Jesus becoming man to bring hope to a dying world, belongs to US, the church. We need to own it and share it well, clearly. This is the third year we as a whole church have joined the Advent Conspiracy, a movement to do Christmas differently, less commercially, and to put an emphasis on giving to those who REALLY need help. Two years ago we raised over $60,000 for clean water wells in third world country…we’re still drilling those wells. Last year we raised $90,000 to help little girls in India escape the dark world of sex trafficking. This year we are giving to orphans, abused street kids in Brazil with a likely lifespan of only 3-5 years once they hit the streets. We are hoping to fund the rescue and education of 100 kids with the money that we WOULD have spent on Christmas for ourselves and our families.

Tonight my life group is putting together 80 gift bags for women that work in massage parlors, which are really brothels, here in our very own city. Most of these women have been trafficked from other countries and don’t even speak English. Houston is the number one city in the U.S. for the sex trafficking industry. These women need love and they need hope, the hope of Jesus.

This is how we do Christmas. I would rather take my kids to volunteer somewhere than buy them a bunch of toys that will get ignored after a few days and take up space. I’d rather make cookies with them than spend time shopping. I want them to know getting toys from Santa doesn’t bring lasting joy, but showing their lonely great-grandparents patience and love is a worthwhile endeavor. Santa is fun but Jesus knocks it out of the park.

My Relaxing Thanksgiving

This past weekend was one of the most enjoyable, relaxing Thanksgiving weekends I’ve ever had. Stress? What’s that? Not a drop to be found anywhere. God is good and I am grateful.

Wednesday I finished up my Thanksgiving meal prep with a Nathan early in the morning before the store got to be madness. Then I worked, trying to tie up loose ends on projects before the long holiday. After the kids went to bed we had a little budget meeting to plan for our Christmas gift giving.

Thanksgiving morning I got up before dawn to head over to our YMCA and volunteer at the local Turkey Dash. I wish I were able to run the 5k, but I’m glad I was able to share information about our upcoming Run 4 the Children in March with the 4000 or so runners that day. Those runners are the perfect target audience for our four mile race benefiting our 1:17 adoption ministry, and it was encouraging hearing so many respond so positively to my solicitation.

Then I headed home and cooked up a storm. I like to do a very traditional and simple Thanksgiving feast, wish turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, green beans, salad, cranberry sauce and rolls. It really isn’t hard to do at all. I use the turkey sized oven bags which make the bird cook faster, more evenly and keep it nice and moist with no basting necessary. This year we used Mike’s awesome wireless digital meat thermometer which told us exactly when the bird was done. It was the best turkey I’ve ever cooked…incredibly moist and flavorful.

Mike drove over and picked up my grandparents and his cousin Vicki joined us too. We also had our friends’ pug, Romeo, which made for much added entertainment. My kind, serving husband did most of the clean-up, which is a huge job when you’re handwashing all that china, sterling silver and crystal, not to mention a million pots and pans. Then he drove my grandparents home while I put the kiddos to bed.

A Small Dose of Black Friday

As soon as he was back I headed over to my local Target and camped out in line for their midnight opening. I met some very nice people and happened to be in line next to some neighbors I hadn’t spoken to in a couple years. Everything was totally calm and pleasant except for the chain smokers in front of us that triggered a massive allergy attack in me, but no worries I had a big box of tissues in my car. The weather was perfect for me though several of the folks around me thought it was super cold. It wasn’t. It was like 55.

I got the Xbox on sale I wanted and the very last free Wipeout game in the store. They only had about four….they were totally unprepared for that deal. So I saved about $200 on our family Christmas gift…I would have been just sitting at home watching TV otherwise. Also managed to get a spare set of 550 thread count king sized sheets, which we really did need since our only spare set ripped last month, for only $35.

The rest of the weekend was spent at home decorating for Christmas. The kids are finally old enough to be a HUGE help, especially with the trees (there are four of them). The inside of the house was done on Saturday and the outside lights went up after church on Sunday and everything looks so beautiful and festive.

Advent Conspiracy

And church…church was amazing. I think Advent is my favorite time of the year. The anticipation of Christ’s coming to earth fills us with such hope. The story of Christmas, the real story of Jesus becoming man to bring hope to a dying world, belongs to US, the church. We need to own it and share it well, clearly. This is the third year we as a whole church have joined the Advent Conspiracy, a movement to do Christmas differently, less commercially, and to put an emphasis on giving to those who REALLY need help. Two years ago we raised over $60,000 for clean water wells in third world country…we’re still drilling those wells. Last year we raised $90,000 to help little girls in India escape the dark world of sex trafficking. This year we are giving to orphans, abused street kids in Brazil with a likely lifespan of only 3-5 years once they hit the streets. We are hoping to fund the rescue and education of 100 kids with the money that we WOULD have spent on Christmas for ourselves and our families.

Tonight my life group is putting together 80 gift bags for women that work in massage parlors, which are really brothels, here in our very own city. Most of these women have been trafficked from other countries and don’t even speak English. Houston is the number one city in the U.S. for the sex trafficking industry. These women need love and they need hope, the hope of Jesus.

This is how we do Christmas. I would rather take my kids to volunteer somewhere than buy them a bunch of toys that will get ignored after a few days and take up space. I’d rather make cookies with them than spend time shopping. I want them to know getting toys from Santa doesn’t bring lasting joy, but showing their lonely great-grandparents patience and love is a worthwhile endeavor. Santa is fun but Jesus knocks it out of the park.