Thankful Thursday

This week is our Spring Break.  I am thankful for...

~ celebrating my husband's birthday on Tuesday.  He is two weeks younger than me.  We took a cake and pie to his work office after we went to lunch.  We went with him on an overnight trip.  Before we left I remembered that we always sing "Happy birthday" to him and the boys help blow out the candles.  So I picked up a pack of cupcakes and we sang at the hotel lobby.  Titus sang on and on very loudly and it was very cute.

~ my big boy feeling better this week and being seen by the ENT.  We were glad he was able to be seen so quickly after his referral.  It looks like he is going to have his tonsils removed this summer. 

~ my little guy's love for his big brother and how he gets excited/happy about such simple things.

~ God reminding me not to worry.

~ working on our plans for the summer.  The summer months are filling up quickly! 

~  the timing of devotionals I read.  Two times in the past week it has been perfectly time on the day I needed to read it. 

Have a day of blessings!
  Bethany

Book: The Sparkle Box

I am pleased to share with you a book called The Sparkle Box by Jill Hardie and illustrated by Christine Kornacki.

I cannot tell you how much I loved this children's book! I had never heard of this beautiful Christmas story before and was so glad to be able to review it.

It is the story of a boy named Sam who has a mysterious Sparkle Box at home. He doesn't know what is inside, but his parents tell him he will find out soon. They go about the Christmas season helping others like donating blankets, helping a homeless man and giving money for water wells.  Finally on Christmas morning he gets to see the special contents of the Sparkle Box.

Also, the illustrations are beautiful. They definitely added to the beauty of this book for me.

I read this book to my family the day I received it and told them we have a new tradition for the holiday season. It comes with your own sparkle box to fold together too.

Please consider adding it to your Christmas collection. You can visit the website about the book here.

I received this book through the First Look blog tour for my review.

Have a day of blessings!
 

2015 Giving Thanks Challenge

30 days of thankfulness:
Day 1-- Today I'm thankful for smiles and laughs from my boys to start my day.
Day 2-- Today I'm thankful for Titus laughing so hard at his big brother.
Day 3-- today I'm thankful for Caleb telling me he'd take over fixing supper so I could rest.
Day 4-- Today I'm thankful for getting a nap while Titus napped.
Day 5-- Today I'm thankful for Thursday snack days after pep rally.
Day 6-- Today I'm thankful for visits with my sweet neighbor and friend.
Day 7--Today I'm thankful for cell phones and text messages to keep in touch through the day.
Day 8--Today I'm thankful for goulash that Mom made me and that I'm home with my boys.
Day 9--today I'm thankful for being able to be a stay at home wife and Mom.
Day 10-- Today I'm thankful for lunch dates with my husband. It's a sweet tradition we have, and we both look forward to it each week.
Day 11-- Today I'm thankful for the ways my husband is so helpful every day, like today at the grocery store on his day off.
Day 12-- Today I'm thankful for our 7 month old baby boy. He is such a sweet blessing, and we are having so much fun watching him grow and learn new things every day.
Day 13-- Today I'm thankful for a fun night at the drive-in movies with my boys.
Day 14--Today I'm thankful for all the things we have to keep us warm on chilly days...my favorite blanket, fuzzy socks, pajamas, etc.
Day 15-- Today I'm thankful for encouragement from reading this verse on my calendar.
Day 16-- Today I'm thankful for the new pillow my Mom made me. ❤ for many years I have used a leg pillow when I sleep I showed her recently how my old one was falling part with stuffing coming out. We can't remember how old it is! She made a new one for me.
Day 17--Today I'm thankful for Mrs. Nona. She was such a beautiful Christian example. She was Caleb's teacher for VBS and Bible class when he was little. He loved her and she loved him. She touched so many lives and will be missed.
Day 18--Today I'm thankful for days at home.
Day 19-- Today I'm thankful for our new Texas canvas arriving in the mail. I love how it turned out and was so excited to see the finished product when it came today. I'm making a new wall of various pictures of our family, and this is going on that wall.
Day 20--Today I'm thankful for a good appointment at the eye doctor.
Day 21--Today I'm thankful for our visit with our P. family and safe travel.
Day 22-- Today I'm thankful for attending a community Thanksgiving service.
Day 23-- Today I'm thankful for time to read with Caleb before he went to bed. We are reading Where The Red Fern Grows. I love that he has always loved books and little brother seems to love them too.
Day 24--Today I'm thankful for Mexican food.
Day 25-- Today I'm thankful for my doctor and my husband driving me to appointments.Day 26- Today I'm thankful for family, delicious food, laughter, memories, and our boys.
Day 27-- Today I'm thankful for the sound of our baby boy sleeping peacefully.

Day 28-- Today I am thankful for relaxing days
Day 29--Today I'm thankful for visiting with my Dad.
Day 30--Today I'm thankful for our first Christmas card in the mail and getting started on addressing ours.  And BOGO meat with room for it in the freezer! 

Have a day of blessings!

Thankful Thursday

This is the last week of our summer.  It's been a good week, and I've thoroughly enjoyed my boys.  

~ memories shared with my husband of our time at ACU.

~ the wonderful help my big boy has been this summer. Oh how I'm going to miss him and his help!

~ noises and talking of my baby boy.  Some days he gets pretty loud. It's so cute!

~ sharing the candlelight devotion tradition together as a family.  This is a wonderful tradition ACU has every year for incoming freshmen.  Alumni, professors, and current students line both sides of the sidewalks to the amphitheater, each one holding a lit candle. The incoming freshman walk through the line of people as everyone sings praises. Then when they are all seated, their candles are lit too. It is beautiful to hear the singing and to see the lights.

~ cooler temperatures.  After those 100 degree days it is nice to have some cooler days!

~ having a prayer walk organized in our community for the upcoming school year. It was so neat to see the principals, teachers, and families joining together to pray.

Have a day of blessings!
 

Pack your shoe boxes!

Next week is the drop off week for Operation Christmas Child.

Our family has enjoyed participating in this project for several years.  I wanted to post a reminder that it is time to get your shoe boxes ready to drop off.

You can find more information here on how to pack your shoe box and to find a drop off location near you.

Have a day of blessings!
 

Valentine mailboxes

This is our second year to do our Valentine mailboxes.  I started typing this post last week and didn't get it finished but wanted to share about our Valentine fun.  I wrote about the mailboxes last year.  We have had fun doing this again, and Caleb looked forward to beginning on February 1.

We kept the same boxes we made last year.  Caleb wanted to add some stuff to the outside of his.

When the flag is up you know you have mail.  Sometimes Caleb would sneak something in and announce "You've got mail."  We told him that was a phrase in the early days of email and he liked to say it.

We all three left surprises for each other in the mailboxes.  Caleb would write us coupons for things he would do for us.  One of mine was for me to borrow his new "lightwedge" that he uses to read in the dark.  I thought it was so sweet because he had just gotten it and he offered to let me borrow it.  He did make me laugh when he added a stipulation when I read it that it was at home, not in the car!  haha  Another one he gave me was doing a laundry load of whites.

My husband had some creative ones too.  He got us some candy and other days gave us coupons.  One of mine was for dessert of my choosing.  I used that one Saturday night for some chocolate cake at Cracker Barrel.  Yummy!  Another was for a foot massage. 

I used several ideas from Pinterest that I found for my ideas.  (Some were kind of corny but fun!!) Like I gave my husband a banana with a note that said "I'm bananas for you" and a bar of soap with a note that said "I was 'soapin' you'd be my valentine."  I found these crayons at Walmart and gave them to Caleb one day.  Also the 12th was his "half" birthday so I made him angel food cake for that day with a "happy 1/2 birthday" note in his mailbox. 

My husband surprised me with this Precious Moments figurine.  It is called "Our Love Is One of a Kind."  I collect Precious Moments, and it has been a long time since he gave me one so it was a fun, sweet surprise! 

(Image from Precious Moments website)
 

Have a day of blessings!

Our Jesse "tree"

I've read about the Jesse tree on other blogs during past Christmas seasons.  It was something I wanted us to do as a family and remembered in time this year to prepare. 
The Jesse tree is a way to count down the days until Christmas by showing the lineage of Jesus.  It is based on the verse Isaiah 11:1: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots."  Each day in December through Christmas you put on a new ornament that symbolizes a part of Christ's genealogy. 

There are many different ways to make one.  You can do a search for Jesse tree and find plenty of ideas and options.  Another search I did was "free printable Jesse tree ornaments."  Find something that works for you and your family to make it the most meaningful. It can be an actual tree or others I've read about make it into a calendar where you flip over one card each day. 

Ann Voskamp has a free Jesse tree devotional book that is helpful.  It has the verses, pictures and a devotional thought for each day.   

This is what we did. First I found some free printable ornaments.  This is the link for the ones I printed.  Next I colored each one, wrote the number of the day on the corner of each, cut them out, and glued them to red and green scrapbooking paper before laminating them. 

Each day we cut out a new square. We review the previous symbols and talk about how they are all linked and add the new symbol for the day. 

We couldn't decide how to display our ornaments.  I noticed this long section of our wall that was just the right width for our ornaments so we hang them there on a ribbon each  night. 

We have all enjoyed doing this and have learned from it as well.  It has been a great way to count down the days until Christmas because we are reminded of Christ.  He had a plan for us and all the pieces fit together in that plan through the years from Creation until His birth. 

I would also say don't make this "one more thing" to add to your list of things to do during the Christmas season.  It is a great way to get your focus on Christ in my opinion.  Take some time and make it a memorable experience for your family if you choose to make your own Jesse tree. 

Have a day of blessings!

Our weekend!

We had a fun time over the weekend making happy memories together.

Friday after school and work we headed to Dallas. We stopped off for a yummy supper at Spring Creek BBQ. We were all hungry and really enjoyed our meal. The manager came by and saw all Caleb had eaten and gave him a dish of Blue Bell ice cream too.

Saturday we went to the birthday party for our niece (who turned one earlier this month) and her cousin (who will be one in a couple of weeks). It was fun to watch them open their presents. They both liked the ripping the tissue paper out of the bags and throwing it in the air to have it fall on their faces. My sister-in-law made the cakes, and the kids were cute eating them. A just touched hers and licked icing off her fingers, but T really got into it and made quite a mess.

After the party we headed to the State Fair. It is a tradition we have! When I found out the party was going to be on the 25th, I checked to see when the fair opened. I was glad we could do both on the same weekend (since in the coming weekends we'll be busy packing and moving).

We arrived to the park about 4. It had been rainy all morning, but it cleared up by afternoon and we didn't get rained on while at the fair this year. This was the first year we didn't take along the stroller. Caleb was really too big for it last year I know and maybe before that, but we took it anyway to give him a break from walking. Plus the bottom of it held our drinks, camera, and other junk. Caleb didn't complain about walking. At the very end he wanted Daddy to carry him. I was surprised he walked so much!

We watched the pig races and went to the petting zoo. The auto show is always a favorite for the boys, so we spend quite a bit of time there! I like to try out the new vehicles too. We did a test drive for a few vehicles. Caleb wanted to ride in one of the big trucks so we did that one too. We are going to buy a new mattress soon so we tested some out at the Mattress Firm booth and found one we really liked called Rhapsody by Tempur-pedic. I have no idea if we'll get this one but it gave us something to compare to when we try out others. Then the salesman let us try out a massage chair. I could easily imagine getting used to having one of those in my living room! It had slots where you could insert your feet for a massage too. We were all tired by the time we left at 10 but had a great time. Caleb was so big and had fun. He was glad he got his cotton candy!

We slept late Sunday and then came home. Fall is in the air! Hooray!

Have a day of blessings!

As long as it is called Today: Christian parents (August)

Welcome to "As long as it is called Today" as we encourage one another as Christians. I hope you will join me each week on Tuesdays as we encourage each other in our daily lives as Christians, spouses, parents, and home keepers. Today our focus is on Christian parents.

Here is the link to last week's question.

Today's question: What special back-to-school traditions do you have with your children or did you have yourself as a child?

My answer: I always loved to go shopping for school supplies. I still do actually! I was excited to go with Caleb to pick out his supplies. I also loved choosing what I would wear the first day. I still remember some of my first day choices!

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for visiting today! I'll be back to visiting more blogs next week.

fPhoto Friday

Last week we went to our local display of lights. This is our second year to go. I liked how a couple of my pictures turned out, and I wanted to share them.

Natalie hosts fPhoto Friday if you'd like to join us or see other photos. God bless!