Thursday, January 18, 2007

Current reads...

Well, I used to be ashamed that I was a lover of fiction. No, not your classic literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald or Jane Eyre, but current fiction books. Christian authors I enjoy include Francine Rivers, Lori Wick, Janette Oke, and Karen Kingsbury. Other authors I enjoy include Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham, and K.C. McKinnon. So many of my friends love to curl up with non-fiction, classics, or other intellectual literature during their down time. I used to think something was wrong with me because I do not really enjoy reading those kinds of books and I'd hide my true affinities when it comes to reading. But, no more. There's no shame in liking a romance, which is what I prefer. There's nothing better to me than a cold, rainy day with my favorite blanket, a hot cup of tea, and a heart-warming romance. It's my brain-candy.

I just finished reading a series by Lori Wick called "A Place Called Home".






I read these 4 books a lot when I was a teenager and picked them up from my mom's house while I was there over Christmas. It's been years since I've read them...and they were pretty cheesy...I guess I would equate them to plain ol' lolli-pops...they're good, but just flavored sugar with nothing in the middle. They're not the first ones I would choose amongst a whole passle of candy...er...books.
I'm currently reading my first Karen Kingsbury book, "Ocean's Apart".
My sister bought 4 of her books for Christmas and she had the idea of trading them around with me and my mom and herself. I thought it was a great idea! I'm about half way through it, which is a great story so far. I would rate Karen at an M&M level...not has plain has a Hershey Bar, but not has great as a Baby Ruth. But, she does make the chocolate category. I will definitely read more of her books.
Anyway, that's what I'm doing in my spare time: reading, in addition to searching real estate listings, crocheting and catching up on a TV show or two. Soon, the reading will be replaced with packing. Aak! So, there you have it. It's out. I like fiction books. I don't like non-fiction, but will read certain books that will help refine my knowledge on current life experiences. I might pull out a classic someday and may even enjoy it, but when you find candy that you like, it's hard to choose another piece when your favorites are in the mix.

Pizza!

Mallory had her first taste of pizza while we were in Elberton over Christmas. Since my parents own a pizza restaurant, her first taste HAD to be their pizza!!! She loved it!



Monday, January 15, 2007

Good reports from all appointments!

I had great reports from my OB and my dermatologist! Thanks so much for all who remembered me in your prayers. I only had 2 moles removed, which is better than I had anticipated. My doctor chatted my ear off and helped redirect my attention from what she was doing. My novacaine is wearing off a little, so I can feel the stitches a little bit more tonight that I did earlier this afternoon, but it should heal pretty quickly. It's been nice to have mom here to help with Mallory during both appointments!!! Since I feel so good, we made 3 appointments to see some houses tomorrow with their respective realtors!!! I'm looking forward to the hunt now that this doctor day is behind me.

Thanks again for your prayers!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

24, OB/GYN, Dermatologist...OH MY!

Well, we're 49 minutes away from the season premiere of 24!!! Patrick and I are VERY excited about "our show" coming back to the air waves. We've been looking forward to this since the end of last season!!! Patrick is currently on a DQ run to get his sweets before the show!!!

We're also enjoying a visit from my mom this weekend. I called her last month to ask her to help me watch Mallory while I schedule a day of doctor's appointments for myself. I'm going to my first OB/GYN appointment here in JC tomorrow morning, which is not something to anticipate by most women...me being one of them! Shortly after, I'll be going to see the Dermatologist for some irregular moles that I'm constantly plagued with. I'm always assessing my skin and feel like Sherlock Holmes as I try to figure out the enigmas of my epidurmis! I know that I'll be having some moles removed...the question is just how many! The last time I had moles removed I passed out, so mom will be there to help with Mallory and be my chauffer home. It will be an awkward week, but I'd rather go through some awkwardness than suffer with skin cancer.

Anyway, tomorrow will be a not-so-exciting day for me and I ask for your prayers!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Book Meme

Nicole tagged me to do the Book Meme. Here are the instructions:

1. Grab the book closest to you open to page 123
2. Go down to the fourth sentence
3. Post the text of the following 3 sentences on your blog
4. Name the author and book title
5. Tag 3 people to do the same

There aren't any books in our office/guest room, so I look over to my left and into our bedroom and see a book on my nightstand, which is "Don't Make Me Count to Three" by Ginger Plowman. I'm reading this book in conjunction with "Sheparding a Child's Heart". On page 123, the chapter ends and the fourth sentence is the last one, so my meme will be from page 122 (sorry to break the rules...) Here is the quote for the meme:

"And because of my disobedience and neglect, my relationship with my children is not as intimate and open. Tension and frustration have crept into our relationship and robbed us of the openness and closeness that we usually share. We all suffer the consequences of my disobedience." - Ginger Plowman, "Don't Make Me Count to Three" - from the chapter on Setting the Standard of Obedience.

An interesting quote and one that makes you think about how our choices affect those around us, both the good and bad choices. In this case, our choice to disobey God will strain the most important relationships in our lives.

I guess I'll tag Courtney, Kristin, and Dana.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Gators Win! Gators Win!

"I say it's great - to be - a FLORIDA GATOR"!!!

It was so awesome watching the Gators win decidedly against the Buckeyes. UF is now the first school to hold basketball and football national championship titles for the same season. That's a pretty amazing feat for any program. Anyway, I had a great time watching the game!!!

Go Gators!

Monday, January 8, 2007

Go Gators!

The Florida Gators will hopefully beat out Ohio State for the National Championship title tonight. There's been a lot of talk about the SEC being the best conference (which is no questions to me, of course) and the Gators are out to prove it tonight! It's been 10 years since Danny Wuerffel led the 1996 Gators to a national championship and tonight, Chris Leak (from Charlotte!!!) has the chance. It should be exciting and we'll be watching! Will you?

Go Gators!

Cayman is home!

It's good to have Cayman home (I say that as she's barking at something outside and the baby is napping...). Anyway, she's been running out of energy pretty quick over the last few days since she's been back from her "woods excursion". Part of me hopes she stays this lathargic, but it's OK if she bounces back to her normal self. We go to the vet today to make sure she's OK. She had a few cuts and her paws are very tender, but all in all, she's OK...just tired.

Mom made a celebration cake that we ate on Friday night after we arrived. This pic was taken a little while after we arrived in Elberton...

Friday, January 5, 2007

God knows even the sparrows...

Well, it's 3:30 in the morning and I just can't sleep. Patrick can't either. We're thinking so much about our little beagle!!!

My mom called us about 30 mintues ago and told us that Cayman found her way home. Oh, how excited we were to hear the news! We have no clue where she's been for the past 4 days and we have no clue how she found her way home, but she did. Mom said heard Cayman yelp outside their back door (the same door she escaped from!) and when she let her in, mom couldn't hold her tears back...she just couldn't believe that the dog was there. She said that Cayman ran around the house jumping on every piece of furniture as if to say that she was so excited to be home. I think we all truly have faith that God DOES guide and protect His creation - even the smallest, craziest of beagles!

We'll be heading down to Elberton tomorrow to reunite with our dog and are very excited to see her. We had been talking all day yesterday about heading down there with a few hundred fliers to pass out in order to somehow convince ourselves that we did all we could to find her. We had made the decision before we went to bed last night to go and was preparing our hearts that the probability of us finding her was slim, but we just wanted to do SOMETHING. We feel so blessed to now head down there with a sense of excitement that we'll be able to see our pet again.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow! Thanks to all of you for your thoughts, your well wishes, and your prayers for us and for our crazy, crazy dog.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

No word yet...

Cayman is still missing and we're very sad. My parents have done a lot to find her and SOOO many people know that she's missing. There's even an ad on the radio! I'm glad that people know and are keeping their eye out. My folks have received a lot of calls from people saying that they saw a beagle wandering around the area, but isn't it ironic that it's not Cayman? My mom and dad both saw this beagle and it looks a lot like her, but it's not her. I think it's odd that there is another beagle out there wandering around.

We're still trying to sift through our emotions and don't know exactly what to do. Should we go back and look for her? Should we just wait and see if she's found? Should we just start to move on? It's been a tough roller coster emotional ride for us, but we do trust that God works everything for our good and His ultimate glory. We are both trying to be thankful in this time. Thanks to all of you for your comments. I appreciate it!

Christmas at Gram and Pops

We had a good time in Charlotte celebrating Christmas with Patrick's parents. We were also able to spend time with our former pastor and his family. It was SOOO good to see everybody. We participated in our Christmas Eve Advent service with Patrick's mom and dad and really enjoyed exchanging gifts and humbling receiving so much from family! God has truly blessed us with generous parents! We had a great time and are looking forward to another visit with Gram and Pops soon!






Pictures...

I've got A LOT of pictures to post and it's going to be hard to select which ones I want to show you since I have so many! These posts will come in spurts, since I have little bits of free time here and there (you moms understand!!!).

Here are the pics that were included in our folk's christmas cards...

From my parent's card:
















From Patrick's parent's card:
















Other cute pics taken before Christmas...


Tuesday, January 2, 2007

It's a new year...

It's hard to believe we recently celebrated a new year. It's no longer the year of my child's birth, which is strange to me for some-odd reason. The turn of the new year brings on new challenges ahead for us as we begin to pack again, search for a home and move. Then comes the unpacking, the settling, and the organizing a new home brings. But, I don't really want to think about that now...

We had a great Christmas with friends and were able to share some really good memories with both sets of grandparents, with my sister and brother-in-law, and extended family and friends. I will share more about those in a later post, though.

Our new year started sadly as our dog ran away while we were down at my folks house in Elberton. She was let out accidentally yesterday morning and she went on a mad dash to freedom (or so she thinks!). Though she does usually come back home or at least is in the near vicinity, we just couldn't find her. Patrick and our family searched for about 4 or so hours before we just had to leave because of our responsibilities here. So, we made the tough decision to leave Elberton with the promise of my parents to keep looking. Patrick and I have been very melancholy and sad and miss her tremendously. Yes, she got on my nerves and yes, she was very pilferous and annoying at times, but she was still our pet which we love and are responsible for. Anyway, there are flyers out and the animal shelter, police department, and neighbors know that she's missing. I hope she wanders up to someone's house who will care for her! I just wanted to share.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Christmas Advent!

















Here is a picture of our Advent Candles. We enjoyed the tradition of the Advent Wreath and are looking forward to refining the tradition through the years. We pray God will remind us all year of his Gospel, from the beginning of time, to the birth of Christ, and unto the ends of the ages!

We look forward to spending Christmas with my folks and sister this weekend. We leave this afternoon for Elberton and will stay there until New Years Day. I'm anticipating a visit from my VERY dear friend, Kristin. I found out yesterday that she and her family will be stopping by my parents house on their way back to Jacksonville from the Western Carolina mountains. It will be good to see her! We'll also be able to visit some some of my cousins, who will also be stopping by on their way from south FL to IL! It's going to be a fun and relaxing time!

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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We took this picture yesterday afternoon before our gift exchange. I'm looking forward to posting about our Christmas soon and I'm looking forward to hearing about yours!

Friday, December 22, 2006

Going to Gram and Pops House!

Well, we just said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa (my folks) who came up for a brief visit and we'll be heading down to see Gram and Pops (Patrick's folks) this afternoon. Mallory will have a chance to see both sets of grandparents in one day!!!

We're looking forward to visiting with friends and family this weekend and enjoying the Christmas festivities with Patrick's parents. We'll be back on Christmas day and share our gifts to each other that night. I'm looking forward to posting about a wonderful time and likewise hearing about your Christmases! May your celebrations be filled with Christ!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

8 months old!

Here are some of Mallory's 8-month pictures that I took yesterday. A lot of them came out great. It was hard to determine which ones were my favorites, but I think these 3 are:


Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Misc. happenings and the fourth Advent

There are so many things that we've done over the past few days that I'm behind on sharing with you all. Here's a brief summary of some Moss happenings:

- Christmas shopping! Patrick and I have been playing tag-team in going out into the mad, mad shopping world to purchase gifts for each other and our family. We both have done our share of shopping and I think we're finally done!
- Christmas baking! I made some sugar cookie dough on Friday afternoon. While I had been shopping that night, I picked up a container of 100 cookie cutters with all kinds of shapes and sizes. Patrick thought I was crazy buying all those cookie cutters, but I saw years of baking cookies down the road and they were only $10. Anyway, when I got home, Patrick and I rolled the dough and cut out some Christmas shapes and enjoyed piping hot sugar cookies while watching Christmas Vacation. It was a fun late-night snack and movie event!
- Christmas parties! We went to Patrick's office Christmas party on Saturday night. We were able to bring Mallory and she was a big hit. It was nice to socialize, show off our daughter, eat some good food, and be a part of a nice gathering.
- Christmas wrapping! After church on Sunday, Patrick and I spent a lot of time that afternoon wrapping gifts for each other, Mallory, and our family. I usually watch "It's a Wonderful Life" when I wrap gifts, which is what I did. I ended up watching it one and a half times! It's a great movie...and we had lots of gifts to wrap!
- Christmas worship! We enjoyed church again this past Sunday. They're a loving and hospitable body of people in a God-loving church. We attended both morning and evening services and joined in on a good ol' Southern Baptist social afterward. Good food. Great fellowship. Mallory has been having issues with being in the nursery. She DOES NOT like being away from Mommy. She almost hyperventilates as she works herself up. I feel so bad for her and the nursery workers! The nursery workers have been very patient with her and I've been so appreciative of their service to us by handling a crying 8-month old!
- Christmas worship (at home)! We enjoyed our fourth Advent service this week. We read about who our promised Savior was (from John..."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God") and reviewed a little of the prior weeks. We sang "One Small Child" and "Hark the Harold Angels Sing". As we approach the holiday weekend, we're looking forward to reading about our Savior's birth and the response of Mary, Joseph, Wisemen, and Shepards to His coming. We're looking forward to being with extended family this weekend and sharing our final Advent services with them!
- Christmas fellowship! Last night, we had our first guests over for dinner (other than family, of course)! There is a couple we met at church who we seemed to click with quickly. We invited them over last night and enjoyed a fun evening of food and fellowship. Josh is a physical therapy student at ETSU, so he and Patrick had a lot to talk about. Rosana just graduated with a Business degree, so we had a lot to talk about! They just got married back in May and just joined this church we've attended back in the summer. They don't know a lot of couples either, so we both really needed this time with each other. Anyway, I think we've found some good friends!!! God has definitely provided fellowship we so greatly needed!

So, that's it in a nutshell. There is so many other things to share, but I'll have to stop there for now. Today is Mallory's 8-month birthday, so it's picture day. Plus, I've got a bunch of errands to run before my folks come up for a visit tomorrow. They'll stay through Friday morning and then we'll leave on Friday afternoon to Charlotte for the holiday weekend.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Regal Beagle

Patrick has asked me if I will make a post about Cayman. She definitely keeps life exciting and I guess she deserves a whole post to herself. She's a handful and I sometimes have to hold myself back from not yelling at her too much. She loves to play and and take walks, but she also finds ways to annoy the mess out of me. She is a sweet dog, but I'm hoping that her later years will be a lot calmer than her younger years! Here are some pictures of her recent meanderings.

Here is Cayman with her pacifier... er...Kong. We shove a treat up the Kong and she'll be mezmerized by it for a little while.





Here she is mezmerized by the air vent. She spent about 3 days back in November staring at the vent ALL DAY! She would whine at it, scratch it, sleep next to it, etc. We still don't know why, since we looked under the crawl space and didn't see anything. Weird.







Here's Cayman on her new perch - the grill. I'm amazed at how this dog can jump!

Here's Cayman sleeping on the grill. I think the black cover keeps here warm and she likes to be up high, which helps her "man the fort", though she'd probably hide under the bed or something if danger is imminent. She can be a bit of a wuss.

Here is Cayman with Crab. Crab is sort of like Wilson the volleyball in the movie "Castaway". Crab is her friend. She plays with it outside all the time; they run together, play together and even perch on the grill together. They are best friends. Again, weird.

Here's a video of Cayman jumping on the grill.
She's something else.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Good news from the doctor...

Back in June, I made a post saying that my cholesterol was a whopping 253! I went to the doctor last week and just received my labs in the mail today. My cholesterol has dropped to 208! Though still a tad high, I'm so thrilled by how much it's dropped!!! Praise God!

I'm not too good with needles, so when I had my blood drawn for the labs, I got a little tense praying that I wouldn't faint. When she poked me with the needle and drew the blood, it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. At that moment, I looked over at my daughter and realized that the pain of childbirth has usurped the pain of a needle prick. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not going to voluntarily offer my arm to a needle! It just didn't hurt as much.

My doctor's appt was the first step of others that I have to see. My mom is coming up to watch Mallory for me in Jan when I go to the dermatologist to get some moles removed AND go to the OB/GYN for an exam...both in the same day! I'm not looking forward to that (though it will be nice to have a visit from my mom)!

Anyway, I just wanted to share the good news about the cholesterol!

Christmas Craft Idea

I was sharing all of my Christmas craft ideas with my friend Dana and I realized that I wanted to share one of my crafts from last year with you all...

I remember flipping through the pages of a Pottery Barn magazine last year and saw large frame (either 16x16 or 12x12) with a big white matte (to fit a 6x6 picture) and the matte had a bunch of colorful Christmas sayings on it. I remember thinking that I could make something like that, but didn't quite know what to do. So, as the Christmas cards started coming in and piling up...all with pretty Christmas scenes and sayings, I figured I could use cut-outs from the cards, tape them on a matte, and make really pretty frames for my family! I ended up making about 8 frames; one for each of my family members. Some frames I used cut-outs from one card and others I used a conglomeration of things from a variety of cards. The frame and matte combo were on sale at Michael's for about $5 and the enlargement was $.99 at Wal-Mart.
So, go get yourself a frame, matte, scissors and double-sided tape and have fun decorating!

Our frame I made last year:

















Details:

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Decorating and Third Advent

We spent a lot of time last week decorating our house for the Christmas holiday. Patrick always enjoys putting out the nativity set and he was able to do it this year with his little "Mallor". Mallory also put up the first ornament this year, which was her "Baby's first Christmas" ornament. Patrick and I enjoy going through our ornaments and reminiscing about the significance of them, like where and when we got them or who gave them to us. We have ornaments from Patrick's childhood, my childhood, our lives together, and now with Mallory. I guess you would describe our tree as an heirloom tree. We don't focus on a particular color or theme.

This is the first year that we've hung stockings. Mallory received a beautiful stocking from her Great Aunt Dee, who crossstitched one for her in honor of her birth. I looked around in various stores for stockings that compliment hers, but I was very disappointed in the selection. I kept comparing all the stockings to the ones that my mom had made for us as kids and they didn't even come close. So, I had the bright idea to call my mom and ask if she would be willing to make Patrick and me a stocking. She was happy to this for us! Last Tuesday, I received a package from her with our stockings in it. They were so beautiful! I was so excited to hang them up!!!! I think the stockings from mom and Dee just make the whole house look Christmas-y! Again, I love items that I can consider heirlooms. As the Christmas holidays come and go, I will always be able to share with Mallory that our dear family took time out of their busy lives to make us something so special.

(Notice White Christmas in the background of this picture?)

We took Mallory Christmas shopping this past Saturday. We had so much fun picking out some toys for her and enjoying her company in the mall. We always get compliments from strangers at what a beautiful little girl we have. We are definitely pround parents! I've done a lot of shopping online, though I try to make a lot of gifts, too. I'm excited about our purchases and am looking forward to gifting our friends and family.

Other things we've done this week include writing the Christmas letter, stuffing envelopes, developing pictures, wrapping gifts, shopping, and I can honestly say that the list goes on! On Sunday, we visited a church we both thoroughly enjoyed and are anticipating another visit next week. We've been so busy over this past week, but we stopped on Sunday night and as a family, opened the big black Bible and read more passages to prepare our hearts Christmas. This week, we read about the purpose of our promised Savior. We read the passage from Luke about Mary visiting Elizabeth and her song. We read about John the baptist and how he will prepare the way for the coming Messiah. We read Zechariah's prophecy that is rich with ways our Lord will redeem his people. We read that our Savior will be Immanuel, God with us. Oh, what a joy it must have been to see the fullfillment of the prophecy "and the virgin will bear a son and he shall be called Immanuel, which means God with us". We sang "What Child is This?", "I Heard the Bells...", and "It came upon a Midnight Clear".

"My soul maginfies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior!" Posted by Picasa

Monday, December 11, 2006

Broccoli

I took this video a few weeks ago, but I just got around to uploading it. I thought it was kinda cute.

Friday, December 8, 2006

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

Today, the thermostat has reached 13 degrees. 13 DEGREES!!!! With the wind chill, it feels like 4 or 5. Patrick always told me that he's wanted to live somewhere that was colder. Well, here we are! Being a Florida girl, I'm a *tad* bit cold.

Brrrr!

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Gingersnaps!

I love Gingersnaps, but I've never made them. I've decided that I wanted to do some baking this year, eventhough I'm still trying to drop the last few pregnancy pounds. While I was sifting through my handy-dandy Betty Crocker cookbook, I came across a recipe for Gingersnaps and decided that this would be the cookie I make this week!

I had all the ingredients except Molasses. I've never cooked with it and was surprised by how cheap it was at the grocery store! I put Mallory in her car-shaped exersaucer in the kitchen, played some Christmas music, and started the cookies.

They smelled so good while they were baking and I couldn't wait to taste them! When they came out, I patiently waited for one to cool before I had my first taste. Boy, were they good!!!

This will NOT be the last time I make Gingersnaps. In fact, I will probably write this down as one of my favorite cookies of all times.

Thanks, Betty Crocker, for showing me the way to one of my cookie favorites! Posted by Picasa

Our Christmas Tree!

On Tuesday night, we went to go pick out our Christmas tree. It was a brisk 25 degrees when we went to get the tree. It was COLD! Mallory did so well, despite her tired eyes and pink cheeks. She barely made a peep the whole time we were outdoors.

We went to a local tree lot in Elizabethton who hand pick their trees from a tree farm up on Roan Mountain, about 30 miles east of here. The trees looked so fresh! The lady who was helping us said that they had just been cut the day before. Oh, there's nothing like the smell of fresh cut frasiers!

We picked out a tall, narrow tree instead of a full-based tree. We don't have a lot of space for a tree, but the tree we picked fits perfectly in its little nook. I have only got around to putting lights on the tree, but I will probably finish decorating it this evening. When I grew up, my mom always popped in Irving Berlin's White Christmas when we decorated the tree. Now, I can't seem to decorate without it! I usually watch that movie at least twice over the holidays. Patrick has never seen it and I am committed to have him sit down and watch it with me this year!

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Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Weekend trip and Second Advent

This past weekend, we went to Charlotte for a visit to see Patrick's folks. We arrived on Friday night and it was so great to see them! It had been about 6 weeks since they had seen Mallory and she's grown so much since then. On Saturday, we enjoyed a nice breakfast together and then I left to do a photo shoot for a client. After that, I had about an hour and a half before I needed to be back to feed the baby and I figured I'd try to find someone who was available for a visit. I called my sweet friend, Courtney, who gladly welcomed me for a visit! It was so good to see her, hug her, and have fun conversation about life's changes...for both of us!!!It was nice to have some time to myself, thanks to my hubby and in-laws!

We had a nice dinner together and used the time around the dinner table to express our thanks for what has happened this past year. Later that evening, Patrick and I went on a highly anticipated date! Patrick's mom bought him tickets for his birthday to see Monty Python's Spamalot, which played this weekend. So, we dressed up and enjoyed our time together watching a hilarious play!!! We both enjoy the theater and counted over 12 plays that we had seen together in the past 5 years of our history together.

On Sunday, we were able to go to our home church, see old friends, give and receive hugs, listen to our pastor preach, and fellowship with a sweet family afterwards at lunch. It was so nice to be in a familiar environment with a church family we dearly miss.




























We left Charotte around 3:30 and arrived back home around 7:15pm, which is pretty good figuring we stopped 3 times! When we got home, we had a very tired baby on our hands, so we immediately lit our Advent wreath and started our second service this season. This week, we talked about the announcement of the promised gift and read the passages in Matthew and Luke which document angel Gabriel coming to Mary and Joseph in addition to the announcement Zechariah received about the coming of John the Bapist. We sang "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus", "Angels from the Realms of Glory", and "Joy to the World". Patrick does such a wonderful job explaining the passages to Mallory. She was so cute as she listed to him wide-eyed. Though she doesn't understand what he's saying, she seems to enjoy listening to him as he reads. Whenever we started singing, she kept looking at both of us wondering what we were doing! It's such a sweet time we have together and I'm looking forward to sharing this season with her in the years to come. Posted by Picasa

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Thursday Thirteen

My favorite 13 holiday Christmas movie moments...(Thanks to my friend, Kelly, who started the holiday movie idea...)

1. From "White Christmas"...the scene where Bob, Phil, Betty, and Judy are sitting around the table after the sister act and Phil pipes up about reading an article about orange juice and it's affect on children's teeth. The way Phil trys to change the subject of conversation to family and kids and the way Bob says "Pushing, Pushing" always makes me laugh.
2. From "The Elf"...the scene where Buddy asks for maple syrup on his spaghetti...and the response to the question "So, do you like sugar?"..."Does Maple Syrup have sugar in it? Then YES!" is so funny!
3. From "While you were sleeping"...the scene where the newspaper delivery boy falls off his bike
4. From "Christmas Vacation"...the first scene when the family sings "Deck the Halls"
5. From "It's a Wonderful Life"...the scene in the Ice Cream shop when George and Mary are kids and Mary says "George Bailey, I'll love you 'til the day I die"
6. From "It's a Wonderful Life"...the scene when Harry toasts George as "the richest man in town". I ALWAYS cry at that scene!
7. From "White Christmas"...when Bob and Phil dance the sister act
8. From "White Christmas"...when the General walks down the steps of the Vermont Inn, enters the theater, and the whole room is filled with soldiers. I ALWAYS cry at that scene, too!
9. From "White Christms"...all the song and dance numbers. What a GREAT movie...definitely my favorite! I could probably quote most of the movie
10. From "The Christmas Story"...the box marked "FRAGILE"
11. From "While you were sleeping"...when Joe Junior accuses Jack of "leaning" into Lucy
12. From "Peanuts Christmas"...when Linus recites the christmas story...and then at the end, all the kids hum "Hark the Harold Angels Sing" with "loo's"
13. What are yours?

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Happy Birthday, Gwampa!

Today is my dad's birthday. Love you , Dad!