Where will you be?

Tomorrow is a great day in American History. How many of our ancestors never would have dreamed that an African-American would become president of the United States. Where will you be? What will you be doing? Whatever it is, I hope that you will take time to pray for President-Elect Obama. Whether you voted for him or not......we are commanded to pray. God Bless America!

Pray for rulers and for all who have authority so that we can have quiet and peaceful lives full of worship and respect for God.
1 Timothy 2:2

Where to begin????

I honestly don't know where to begin this post. It has only been 7 days since my last post but so much has occurred. Many people have flippantly made the comment - "Did you have a good New Year?" ..... I want so bad to say, uh....NO!

Early in the morning hours of January 1, we received a phone call that has completely changed our lives and put many things into prospective. My father-in-law was very ill, consumed with cancer, and was dying. Sal and I spent the next 44 hours at the hospital with family watching one of the strongest men I know, pass away. If I never have to do that again, it will be too soon.

My father-in-law passed away around 2:37 Saturday morning, January 3, 2 hours and 37 minutes into my husband's 46th birthday. We had his funeral yesterday and at times it is still so hard for me to imagine that this has all happened. My heart is breaking because my husband has lost his Dad, a man he loved dearly and my mother-in-law, his wife of 53 years, is now alone. I am one of those people who is a "fixer" and I can't fix this and that is hard.

At the funeral, they asked the kids, what they had learned from the Dad. They mentioned "how to live", "how to love", and "how to laugh". He did teach his kids and those of us brought into the family how to do those things. However, one of the things I was thinking about that I wouldn't mention for fear of really losing it, was that he taught his sons how to be men and how to take care of their families. I am so thankful for my husband and what he does to take care of us. I see him look at his Mom and his desire to take care of her and I know that he too, is teaching our children this same legacy.

So the first 7 days of 2009 has brought sadness and many tears. It has brought to mind these lyrics by Casting Crown - "I'll praise You in the storm, and I will lift my hands for You are who You are no matter where I am, every tear I've cried, You hold in Your hand. You never left my side and though my heart is torn, I will praise You in this storm." As hard as this past week has been, I will continue to lift my eyes to the hills because I know where the help comes from. Please keep our family in your prayers.

"Cele" , I'm going to miss you. May you rest in peace.

Wordless Wednesday - Bye Bye 2008!

Looking Back - Years and a Few Days

Today Sal and I celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. My how time flies! I'll never forget that cool December day. It wasn't the PERFECT wedding but it was such a happy time time for us. In looking back over the 17 years, it is very clear how God has had His guiding hand upon us, had mercy on us, and has greatly blessed us. We joke about the times (that lovely first year) that we didn't even have money to buy a soda and now I look around to see that Sonic cups are part of the decor of our home! In 17 years, God has allowed me to see Sal accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior, get baptized, watch him graduate from college, allow me to complete a Master's degree, buy a home, buy a few cars, need a new car, go through some very difficult times in trying to have a child, and then blessing us beyond imagination with two wonderful children and then seeing both of them accept the Lord. I could go on and on about these last 17 years! However, through it all - good and bad - I am so thankful that I got to go through it with my very best friend. I can only hope that God allows us to spend another 17 years (and more) together making memories, good and bad. Happy anniversary honey!

Finally, in looking back over the past few days, I have a few pictures of this Christmas to share.


We made cookies for Santa that definately had the seal of approval!

Actually, we got a little carried away and made cookies for Santa AND the elves!












The kids watched Santa on the radar (one of us more intent that the other), but it was nice that he played along!











At 4:30 A.M. we opened presents and Clarissa was quite excited over her Jonas brothers posters.












This is my favorite picture of all! This was their first reaction when they opened the HUGE box that contained their Wii! They have saved their money for several months with the anticipation that if Santa did not bring a Wii (because they knew Mom and Dad wouldn't), they would buy one for themselves. They were SOOOOooooo excited!












I hope you had a great Christmas and I hope that as you look back over the past days, weeks, or even many years, that you too can see how blessed we all are!

Wordless Wednesday - Reindeer, Moose, Huh?

Pull up a Chair for Coffee

That is if you can find one! Oh well, come on over anyway! I've got Diet Dr. Pepper and Danish Butter Cookies, yum, yum!

It has been a crazy week but before I get there, let's talk about last Friday. We did end up at the movies and I let the kids vote. Amazingly enough, the movie was chosen and we still loved each other! Madagascar 2 got our vote. It was a pretty cute movie, even if I did get rather sleepy towards the end! The kids really enjoyed it.

Now, back to the crazy week! The last week of school for the semester. Praise the Lord!!! I was busy with school functions at my school, the kids were busy with functions at their schools, and Sal has been extremely busy with work. On top of all of that, we've been preparing to leave town this evening to go to my parent's house to have Christmas with my family tomorrow. As I sit here and blog, I'm not packed and I still have two gifts to buy and we're leaving in 4 hours! BUT, I am going to get my nails done in about 30 minutes! You know, sometimes you just have to take care of YOU.

So, our Friday family night will be spent on the road for about 3 - 3 1/2 hours. We'll spend the time napping and singing Christmas carols probably. What kinds of things do you do with your family to pass the time on the road?

I do have one request before I leave this nice time together. My Mom is a breast cancer survivor. During the chemotherapy, her kidneys were damaged and she is now facing dialysis. She has also had a suspicious spot come up on her arm and was told this week by her doctor that he suspects it is cancer. Please lift her up in your prayers this week. She is a 76 year old angel of a woman that I hold very dear to my heart.

I hope that you will all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy this last weekend before we celebrate our Savior's birth! Thanks for stopping by!

Angels Aware

Well this day has certainly flown by! Somehow I actually thought I'd bake cookies....didn't happen! But what did happen was that we have had a great day!

This morning I was relaxing on the couch because I wasn't quite ready to hit the ground running, watching a Christmas cartoon that just "happened" to be on and found my two children (ages 11 & 7), both cuddling up to me so you know, I couldn't just GET UP! I had to wait until they were ready to get up because those moments are few and far between. Oh, how I enjoyed it! I couldn't tell you what I was watching on TV but I sure know that I was soaking up every second of my kids!

We finally got up and got ready and went to church for Clarissa's program. We couldn't have flash photography during the performance but I did manage to get a picture of my little "angel" beforehand.

She did such a good job! During her "semi-solo" performance as a Commandment Kid (Commandment 5 - Honor your father and mother)! After her time on the big stage was over and all the other children were returning to their spots, she turned around to the audience, gave a bow, a wave, and blew a kiss! It was quite adorable! I must report that she did have an angel emergency during the program - her halo fell off! But she quickly picked it up, put it back on only to find that it was broken! :( Oh well, we fixed it afterwards and she's good to go for tomorrow's performance! Can't wait to see what she'll do tomorrow...you know, show biz!!!

After the performance, Clarissa had a choir party at Mr. Gatti's (not my favorite place)! My favorite guys took me to the Rib Crib for a late lunch. We had a great time! It had been a while since we had spent some alone time with just Jonathon. I did have a surprise when I looked up and saw this.......

That's right! It's a racoon's bottom! Not exactly what I was expecting so see while I'm eating and did I mention, he (it) was hanging over the tea pitcher! We all got a good laugh over it but seriously....a racoon's bottom???

After the Rib Crib, we went to pick up Clarissa from her party and on the way home, we decided to make an unexpected stop at the Dollar Tree!! I LOVE THIS STORE! We acted like we hadn't been let out for months!!!! We were all finding goodies and the most exciting find for the kids were the battery operated tooth brushes! Well, while I'm blogging, we're trying to figure out how to get the toothbrush to shut off because it won't stop!!!!! My seven year old has decided that we have to take the batteries out each time when we're done! Hmmm...is that what they mean by "You get what you pay for"????

We ended up at home and everyone is tired now and not interested in baking! So we've all kind of just hung out and are getting ready for tomorrow! I spoke with my sister this morning and she had told me about an herbal remedy that I got confused and well....without embarrassing myself, let's just say, tonight when I asked her about it again, we had a very hard, deep, long laugh! (Something about marshmallows)

As fast as the day has gone, I sure have enjoyed it! I hope that MY angels are ALWAYS aware of how much I love hanging out with them! I hope your day was just as blessed! (minus the racoon's bottom!)