One of The True Gifts of Christmas!!

WOW! IS ALL I CAN SAY! WE FEEL INCREDIBLY BLESSED TODAY AND WE FEEL SO HUMBLED! WE HAD THE PRIVILEGED OF GOING WITH OUR NEW FRIENDS JAY AND RENEE AND OUR NEW PASTOR HOMER AND HIS SWEET WIFE ROBIN TO DELIVER THE GIFTS TO THE FAMILY THAT OUR CHURCH ADOPTED FOR CHRISTMAS.. THEY WERE SUCH A SWEET FAMILY AND TOTALLY TOOK RESIDENCE IN OUR HEARTS FROM THE TIME WE WALKED IN THE DOOR.PLEASE PLEASE REMEMBER THIS FAMILY IN YOUR PRAYERS..THEY HAVE 5 SMALL CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 8 AND THE DAD IS IN LIVER FAILURE WAITING TO BE PUT ON A TRANSPLANT LIST AND THE MOM JUST HAD SURGERY ON HER ANKLE SO THEY BOTH ARE DOWN AND OUT AND UNABLE TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR CHILDREN, THEY HAVE ALOT OF FAMILY THAT IS HELPING OUT AND WE THANK GOD FOR THAT~WHEN WE WALKED IN I WAS TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH EACH ONE OF THEM AND IF YOU LOOK AT MY PICS I THINK THEY LIKE ME A LITTLE BIT TOO:) OUR CHURCH WENT WAY BEYOND THE CALLING OF CHRISTMAS FOR THIS FAMILY, IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE TO SEE THE TREE EMPTY AND THEN OVERFLOWING WITH PRESENTS IT WAS SUCH A PICTURE OF GODS LOVE AND HIS GOODNESS THRU THIS CHURCH FAMILY.. THE CHILDREN WERE SO EXCITED AND LOTS OF LAUGHTER AND GIGGLES FILLED THE ROOM AND ALL YOU HEARD WAS THE SAYING "THIS SAYS MY NAME" THIS ONE IS MINE" OOHHH PRETTY!IT WAS SO NEAT TO BE A PART OF THAT! WE LET THEM OPEN 2 GIFTS EACH AND THEY ALL SAT IN A ROW ON THE COUCH FROM OLDEST TO YOUNGEST AND THEY HELD THEIR GIFTS WITH SMILES ON THEIR FACES AND DID NOT DIVE INTO THEM LIKE MOST KIDS DO BUT REALLY TOOK THEIR TIME AND WHEN EACH ONE HAD THEIR GIFT THEY OOOOED AND AWWWED AND WITHOUT A BLINK SAID THANK YOU! I WAS SO IMPRESSED WITH EACH ONE AND WHAT AMAZED ME WAS THEY WERE TOLD THEY COULD OPEN 2 GIFTS AND DID NOT EVEN ASK TO OPEN ANOTHER ONE.. NOW THERE WAS ONE PARTICULAR CUTIE WHO WOULD LOOK UNDER THE TREE AND SEE HIS NAME ON A PRESENT AND SAY LOOK ITS MINE BUT WOULD ALWAYS PUT IT RIGHT BACK UNDER THE TREE..I WISH MY KIDS WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE THAT AT THAT AGE.LOL:) MINE WOULD HAVE HAD THEM ALL OPENED AND IF WE SAID NO WOULD HAVE PITCHED A BIG OLE STOMPIN FIT!!THE PARENTS WERE VERY APPRECIATIVE AND I FEEL LIKE THEY TRULY FELT GODS LOVE AND HIS PRESENCE IN THE ROOM TODAY.. HOMER TOLD THEM THAT THEY TRULY HAD TO REALIZE THAT WITHOUT GODS LOVE IN PEOPLE THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED AND HOW TRUE IS THAT! GOD IS JUST SO GOOD! WHEN IT WAS TIME TO GO, I KNEW THAT THE TEARS WOULD START FLOWING BECAUSE I COULD HAVE JUST LOVED ON ALL THEM FOR SO MUCH LONGER BUT I KNEW I HAD TO GO WHEN WE WERE WALKING OUT THE DOOR, LITTLE ABBY WHO TOTALLY HAD ME WRAPPED AROUND HER FINGER LOOKED UP AT ME WITH HER BIG BROWN EYES AND SAID I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO HOME, PLEASE STAY:( AWWW MY HEART!! AND THEN TURNS TO CHUCK AND SAYS BYE, THANK YOU SANTA CLAUS..AWWWW.. MY HUSBAND HAD A LUMP IN HIS THROAT AND TEARS IN HIS EYES AND HUGGED HER AND SAID MERRY CHRISTMAS ABBY, WE WILL SEE YOU SOON! AWWW MY HEART:) IT WAS TRULY A AMAZING DAY THAT WE WILL NEVER FORGET AND WE THANK GOD FOR LETTING US BE A PART OF TODAY AND WE THANK HIM FOR BRINGING US DOWN TO REALITY... AS WE ALL KNOW IT IS NOT ABOUT THE GIFTS, THE PARTIES, THE DECORATIONS ETC ETC... IT IS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST AND HIS LOVE FOR US! I TOLD CHUCK I DO NOT WANT OE GIFT UNDER THE TREE, I JUST WANT TO BE REMINDED OF GODS LOVE AND HIS AMAZING GRACE HE GIVES US EVERYDAY~THAT'S ALL THE GIFT I NEED AND I GET IT EVERYDAY OF THE YEAR 24/7.. I AM SO GRATEFUL!! I HOPE THIS STORY TOUCHES YOUR HEART AND I HOPE YOU WILL ALLOW GOD TO FILL YOU WITH HIS LOVE AND LET HIM USE YOU SO YOU CAN SHINE HIS LIGHT IN YOUR COMMUNITY! MIGHTY BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU! THANK YOU MARTINEZ FAMILY FOR CHANGING MY HEART TODAY:)

Mission Accomplished

Mission Accomplished!! whewwww.. I can not believe I am done with the decorating! I mailed out my Christmas cards and I am finished shopping! Yipee!!Now all I have to do is wrap and I usually talk my sweet hubby into doing most of them!:) I can't help it, he wraps so much better than I do! His packages always look so pretty and mine well... I usually say the boys wrapped them..lol:) they would get me if they knew that I said that:) Now that you all know my secret you will know if I wrapped your pkg or if Chuck did:). I was talking to my sister in law yesterday and we were talking about Christmas and she asked me what happened to the gift of giving and getting so excited to give!!After talking to her and thinking about our conversation it is so sad! Remember when you were a child and you were going to give your Mom or Dad a gift and you just could not wait.. you were so excited and you are just about to bust to give it to them well, that is my wish that me and my boys would have that feeling instead of just saying here. here is your gift! and not worry about how pretty it is wrapped and how much it cost..We adopted a family this year and they have 2 little boys who are 3 and 4 and all they asked for was a comforter and sheets so they could be warm... I tell you that has made us all stop and realize how blessed we are and how fortunate we are! It makes us feel so bad that we take these things for granted... We had a conversation with the boys and said what if you were in their situation and had to ask someone to buy you a comforter and sheets so you could be warm... how does that make you feel? Phillip's response was:I feel so sad for them and it makes me Thankful for what I have! Peyton's response was I am so sad for those little boys and it hurts me to think they don't have all that I do.. Both of the boys want to give them everything they have! Isn't that so sweet but isn't it a great learning lesson for all of us who are so blessed with so much to be able to bless someone else.. What makes me sad is that so many people do this at Thanksgiving and Christmas but what we don't think about is these families are in need all year long! We have decided to try to keep in touch with this sweet family and try and do little things all year long for them. Wee are on our way to Wednesday night service at our church and tonight is the night we take our gifts and I can honestly say we are all excited about giving these gifts!!I hope that if you are able and can give to a family in need that you will. I can promise you it will make your heart feel so much happier!!! Merry Christmas to all of you!

Blessings in Texas

We have so many blessings here in Texas.. And they are called Friends.. God has truly blessed us with so many sweet people and we are so glad that he did! We really miss St Louis and all of our sweet friends and our awesome Fellowship church family! I think he knew how important people and friends are in our lives so he hand picked these people here and let our paths cross.. We are still trying to get settled here and feel like we belong, some days are very hard but we know that God is always here for us and was waiting here for us to get here.. I think it is so cool how when we first moved here the only people we knew were The Johnson's and they both work full time so we don't see them that much in the week so I feel like that was our time with God to grow with him and to be in prayer with him about what he wanted for our family. We have our neighborhood friends, my bunco girls, my bible study girls and their families, our boys baseball teams and their families and now our new church and the families in the church that have truly made us feel like we have been a part of their church family for years. God is so Good and we feel so blessed that he gave us this opportunity to not only grow with him but to grow as a family and now to grow with all of our new friends! We are excited to see what his plans our for us in 2009"Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you! he does and I pray that he continues to bless us with more sweet friends! love you all old and new!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER IN LAW!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!TODAY IS OUR SWEET SISTER IN LAWS BIRTHDAY! !! WE LOVE THIS GIRL SO MUCH!! FROM THE FIRST TIME WE MET HER WE KNEW WE LOVED HER! SHE CAME TO ST. LOUIS FOR PEYTON'S BIRTHDAY PARTY AND WE HAD THE BEST TIME WHEN THEY WERE THERE!! BRAD AND JENNIFER WERE ALREADY ENGAGED SO I KNEW SHE WAS GOING TO BE MY SISTER IN LAW AND I WAS JUST SO EXCITED BECAUSE I ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT THE OTHER MRS RAY WOULD BE LIKE AND WE COULD NOT HAVE PICKED A BETTER GIRL FOR OUR FAMILY.. CHUCK LOVES HER ,PHILLIP AND PEYTON LOVE HER AND AS YOU CAN ALREADY TELL I LOVE HER BUNCHES!! EVERYTIME WE ARE TOGETHER WE JUST HAVE THE BEST TIME.. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE KNOWN HER ALL MY LIFE! I FEEL LIKE SHE HAS BEEN MY BEST FRIEND FOR YEARS... SHE IS ONE OF THE SWEETEST PEOPLE I KNOW AND SHE HAS A HEART BIGGER THAN TEXAS.. :) I HAVE ALWAYS PRAYED THAT WHOEVER MARRIED BRAD THAT HIS WIFE AND I WOULD HAVE A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP AND I AM SO GLAD THAT GOD ANSWERED MY PRAYER, SHE IS LIKE A SISTER TO ME... WE TALK ON THE PHONE WEEKLY MORE SO NOW THAT THEY HAVE OUR SWEET NEPHEW "FORD".. WE TALK ABOUT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, WE VENT ABOUT OUR HUBBYS, BECAUSE YA KNOW THEY ARE ALOTTTTTT ALIKE AND IT TAKES A STRONG WOMAN TO PUT UP WITH THE RAY BOYS:)LOL!!AND WE TALK ABOUT CHILD REARING, WE TALK ABOUT OUR FAITH AND WE TALK ABOUT BIBLE STUDIES, WE TALK ABOUT FRIENDS YOU NAME IT WE TALK IT!! IF YOU TOLD ME TO DESCRIBE JENNIFER IN 10 WORDS, I COULDN'T BECAUSE SHE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN 10 WORDS BUT HERE GOES..1. BEAUTIFUL, 2, WOMAN OF FAITH, 3.LOVING WIFE4.,AWESOME MOMMY,5.SWEET SWEET SOUL, 6. GREAT FRIEND 7. FUN AUNT,8. CUTE DRESSER:) 9. CLASSY CHICK 10. A BIG BIG BLESSING!! JENNIFER, HAVE A GREAT DAY AND KNOW WE ARE CELEBRATING YOU TODAY!! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND WE ARE SO BLESSED TO CALL YOU OUR SISTER IN LAW, OUR AUNT, AND OUR FRIEND!! LOVE YOU !! HAPPY BIRTHDAY

The Decorating Is Done!!!!!

Well the decorating is done and I am thrilled!!! I love Christmas and I love Decorating so this is a fun time of year for me.. I have to admit though moving into a new house and unpacking all your boxes and decorating your house and getting it the way you want it and then pulling out all the Christmas Decorations, I truly felt like we had just moved in again.. awww I wanted to scream but it is DONE and whatever is not done is not gonna be done:) It was fun decorating a new house, kind of challenging but I found a spot for everything... I have always decorated for Fall, Spring, different holidays but I am seriously thinking I am going to take this year off and just get my house the way I want it to look all year round and then decorate for Christmas the beginning of November next year... Everyone always says why do you decorate so much when you are not even home.. well, I have to for myself and my kids, they would think that their momma was sick if I didn't put it all out. I sriously had a hard time getting my mojo to decorate ths year it was so hard when the weather was in the 70's and 80's.. One day I was getting so stressed out that my house was not even looking like Christmas and it was December 4th.. WHAT>>> I have never ever waited that long to decorate, I had shorts and a t-shirt on and I thought this is just not right.. so call me crazy if you want to.. don't say you never have before.lol:) but I put on a turtleneck, my favorite fleece pants, fuzzy socks,sprayed cinnamon room spray, turned on a Christmas CD, made my OOOH Chocolate drink and turned the AC wayyyyyyyyyyyy down and started decorating.. lol it worked!!! I have been complaining about the weather not getting me in the Christmas spirit and I think God heard my cry he let it ***snow*** in Texas yesterday for a few hours and then I thanked him but told him I was truly content with the 60's, 70's, 80's winter temps here so he answered again and gave me sunshine and a whopping 63 degrees today.. GOD is SO GOOD!!!!! I am sure that you all do this too, every ornament has a memory and a story to go along with it and it just makes me feel so much closer to my family and friends that I am so far away from and it makes me appreciate the one that I am close to that God has placed in my new life here in Texas.. God bless you all and I hope that you have fun decorating your homes!! Merry CHRISTmas!!!

A GOOD READ

OK I USUALLY DON'T SHARE WHAT I AM READING UNLESS IT IS REALLY REALLY GOOD!! I LOVE TO READ, I ALWAYS HAVE, IT HAS BECOME A BEDTIME RITUAL FOR ME, IF I DON'T READ BEFORE BEDTIME, I DON'T SLEEP WORTH A DARN! IT CAN BE ANYTHING TOO.. IF I AM OUT OF TOWN AND DON'T HAVE ANYTHING WITH ME, I WILL GO DOWN TO THE HOTEL LOBBY AND PICK UP ANY BROCHURES THAT THEY HAVE ( IT'S THAT BAD:) EVERYTIME I GO TO MY PARENTS, MY MOM ALWAYS HAS STACKS OF OLD GUIDEPOST FOR ME(LOVE THAT MAGAZINE) BUT, ANYWAY NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE PICTURE.. I LOVE TO READ! I HAVE TO READ! SO ANYWAY. I WAS AT THE HOLIDAY MARKET THE OTHER DAY AND THEY HAD A CHRISTIAN SPEAKER BY THE NAME OF MICHELLE MCKINNEY HAMMOND , I HAD NEVER HEARD OF HER BEFORE BUT, AFTER SHE SPOKE I KNEW I HAD TO GET ONE OF HER BOOKS.. SO I CHOSE THE ONE TITLED "LESSONS FROM A GIRLS BEST FRIEND" WHAT MY DOG TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE, LOVE AND GOD... IT HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ AND OF COURSE BEING A DOG OWNER NOW.... IT REALLY MEANS ALOT.. YOU HAVE TO BE A DOG OWNER OR A DOG LOVER TO READ THIS BOOK.. IT HAS SOME OF THE CUTEST STORIES ABOUT HER DOGS AND IT IS TRULY EYE OPENING.. FOR INSTANCE SHE TALKS ABOUT HOW HER DOG LOVES HER, IDOLIZES HER, WANTS TO SPEND EVERY MINUTE IN HER PRESENCE AND THEN SHE SAYS ISN'T THAT WHAT WE NEED TO BE LIKE WITH GOD? THERE ARE JUST GREAT STORIES IN THIS BOOK THAT REALLY MAKE YOU STOP AND THINK.. WOW! SHE IS SO RIGHT! SHE HAS SEVERAL OTHER BOOKS AND I AM SURE THEY ARE ALL VERY GOOD! I BOUGHT MY FRIEND CATHY ONE ON A DIFFERENT SUBJECT AND MAILED IT TO HER AND SHE CALLED THE OTHER DAY TO TELL ME THAT SHE RECEIVED IT AND WAS ALREADY HALF WAY THRU IT.. SHE IS ONE OF THOSE AUTHORS THAT YOU JUST CAN'T PUT DOWN AND YOU DON'T WANT TO PUT DOWN!! CHECK HER WEBSITE OUT AT http://www.michellemckinney/HAMMOND.COM.. I LOVE TO READ A GOOD BOOK AND EVEN BEFORE I AM THRU READIN IT, I KNOW I AM GOING TO READ IT AGAIN!! I THINK IT IS SO FUNNY WHEN YOU LOVE A BOOK YOU GET ALL INVOLVED WITH IT AND FEEL LIKE YOU KNOW THE PEOPLE AND YOU JUST DON'T WANT IT TO END:) I LAUGH BECAUSE I FIND MYSELF TRYING TO FIND SERIES SO I CAN STAY IN THE PEOPLES LIVES.. DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY? OR IS THAT JUST PLAIN SAD ON MY PART?LOL!!! IF YOU HAVE ANY GOOD SUGGESTIONS ON A GOOD READ , WILL YOU PLEASE TELL ME!!